The Snake Clan
by Tremble Wolf
Summary: Michael is a warrior of the Coiled Vipers, a new but ferocious clan, the time of war is near, the armistice is over, This clan's actions will have severe repercussions.CHAPTER Thirteen IS NOW UP!
1. Chapter 1

Snake Prologue 

Mike looked in the mirror; he had just finished all the trials necessary to become a mech-warrior of the snake clan, (They are also called the "Coiled vipers" after the Terran pit viper.)

"You finally made it out alive." Mike soon realized he was talking to himself and then left to take a shower and freshen up before going to his assigned room.

Corbett woke up, he hated the inner-sphere, and the Eridani light horse most of all. Being picked up by the Wolf clan did save him, but he never got a chance to get revenge. He splashed water on his face and went to get his breakfast.

Dominic Paine was well rewarded for his campaign and was now doing well in the Steiner coliseum, he had won the grand championship three times and was soon to retire the solaris life and go to see if he could be rehired for any wars or jobs that the Eridani might have for him. Tranquil was very good for him, but solaris just wasn't his life, he wanted uneven odds against the clans once again.

Mike looked at his room; they all looked the same, except for the room number. "How am going to know which one is mine?" Mike complained

"By looking at your room number?" A trainee walked past and laughed at the mech-warriors ignorance. This of course didn't lighten Mike's mood but made it worse, besides, breakfast was terrible. Just mush and orange colored water, but he soon found out that that was what was made regularly. He knew that he was not needed that day and pulled out a book from the shelf without looking, the books and shelf had all been given to him as an award for the best rating in the test in his class, the trainer sometimes would do that just because he wasn't training some incompetent wet-nose or someone who doesn't know which buttons control the NAV. He was happy that time and was overjoyed to have Mike as a trainee.

"Concerning Hobbits"

Mike read this, and then realized he was reading an old terran book, "How ever did I get this in there?" but he didn't care how he got it, he loved the "Lord of the rings" trilogy and the Hobbit. He was so engrossed in it that he missed dinner was stayed late into the night and was fast asleep on his bed.

Disclaimer: I don't own mechwarrior, but I do own Mike and the Coiled vipers. And also the mech I am altering, the Cobra.

This is the new prologue, and the start of rewriting the "snake clan"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 

Mike woke up with a start, his alarm had gone off and he quickly jumped up and was ready for the day in seconds. He ate the mush that day with a vigor he never had again, it was then he realized that he had skipped dinner the night before. He remembered his schedule and ran down the halls to the briefing room for his first mission. His assignment was to take out a wolf clan headquarters on a small planet on the outskirts of their territory, in the briefing he was told that the Wolves were already aware of their coming and that he would be in a star of heavies, they gave him a few choices and he decided that the timber-wolf was a great choice, being a clan favorite.

"Man,' Mike said agitatedly, 'The one rule of the clans I hate the most is that we have to ask the khan for war, and then notify the opponent of our coming."

Mike ran down and jumped into the cockpit of his timber wolf and strapped in and awaited the call from his star captain.

"This is Star captain Johnson Regent, give me your ready report."

There was a chorus of "Aff's" and then one by one, four voices uttered their ready status.

"Alright, we are going to join a star of mediums when we land, let the point of elementals take the lead and cover the vehicles, then we will storm in behind them and crush the Wolf clan's warriors in our coils!" Johnson was very inspiring and they all shouted "Aff" with a will.

"Sir?" Mike interrupted.

"What, warrior?" He replied.

"When do we arrive?" Mike asked calmly.

"Any moment now, get your omnimech fully prepared and be ready, if you live long enough, we may take this war to Terra."

"Aff, sir, aff." Mike replied.

The ship trembled as it took fire in the landing, the gantry lowered from the Hrothgar class drop-ship. Star captain Johnson led them out and watched the elementals storm the group of harassers that had gathered, the elementals commandeered these and started using them against the former owners.

"Watch your selves, I have just spotted a Dire wolf with a full star of summoners, and some marauders coming in from the east, follow me, we are going for the Dire wolf." Johnson warned, and then turned his Hellbringer around.

All the men responded and opened fire, Mike locked his LRM's onto the concealed cockpit and fired, the warheads impacted and blew away the shielding armor that had been protecting it before. Then a friendly Arctic wolf fired and let loose all its missiles and killed the pilot, an elemental jumped into the fallen 'mech and guarded it till a salvage truck dragged it away into the Hrothgar, but before entering, The elemental jetted over to the summoner, and fired its lasers and missiles into the missile pod and torso.

(I don't know what the clans call the arctic wolf, or the cauldron-born, or the gladiator and any other clan 'mech I call by IS names.)

Mike got a PPC into his chest and then a few lasers into his arm, but then he targeted a kitfox and locked on, and opened fire with lasers and missiles, he blew away one of the legs by melting the hip actuator and then the impact of the missiles blew it off, it was salvaged by the elementals. Intense fighting went on all around him; one of his own mates fell to a storm crow that mauled him with lasers and missiles. The Shadow cat was able to get one last shot off with his gauss and killed a marauder's pilot.

"Re-group, we have killed them!" Shouted the star captain victoriously, but then as his men obeyed, two warhawks came in from behind and slugged an alpha strike into he torso killing the star captain before he could eject. Mike fired his missiles into the torso of one and then followed it with a salvo of lasers and ate away the armor, and then when his missiles were reloaded, he locked onto the reactor and turned the warhawk into a piece of metal.

"Take him down!" Mike screamed in his comm. But his men had already gone into the ship, he fired all his missiles and sadly saw he had fired all of them, then as he was retreating from this overpowering foe, he saw the Dire wolf come out smoking from the dropship, he took this chance and fired his weapons into a crack in the armor and detonated the fusion reactor.

"Wonderfully down, elemental!" He screamed joyously. He waited outside as a guard as the salvage crew cleaned up the mess, and then followed them as they stripped down the outpost, and then happily obliged to destroy when they left.

Brendan Corbett sat reading the report of the raid, "They are pathetic, and they would never have taken the jaguars!" He sneered. Then he sat back in his room and quoted one of his favorites things, from older times;

"Remember Franklin Osis,

Father of his clan.

Three strengths he gave us:

The jaguar's spring that brings the enemy down,

The Jaguar's claws the rend the enemy's heart,

The jaguar's taste for the enemy's hot blood."

He loved the "Remembrance", and quoted this to comfort himself because Clan smoke jaguar was no more.

Mike looked at the briefing and was pleasantly surprised when he was told to go to a trial of position to become a star captain after his heroic last stand against the assault mechs.

Please help me out guys, please R&R it would be most appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Mike stood looking at the holoprojector with the message that he had received;

"Michael of the coiled Vipers, the new rank you have acquired is only in name; you have to face a trial of position, fight your opponent and then if you wish, shoot the engagement sphere to fight for an extra rank to the one you have in name: Star Captain. Fight well and you will lead a binary."

Mike packed up and walked into the drop-ship and watched from the bridge as the ship launched from its location in the space port, hooking up with a waiting Jumpship in orbit in order to make the jump to the planet where his trial would be held. Mike was notified of their approach and climbed into his coolant suit, jumping into the cockpit of his Stormcrow and buckling his neurohelmet onto his suit. He walked it out the massive door that opened for him, letting him step into a huge dome.

Mike walked the Stormcrow out to see a Hellbringer come from its slot to stand in its assigned location. As the siren sounded a countdown was issued, and at the moment zero was said his opponent launched a wave of missiles into his chassis.

Mike fired every laser his Mech carried into the Hellbringer's chest, crippling the armor and leaving it open to his streak SRMs. The high explosive warheads impacted the heavy Mech's torso and stripped away the shielding around the reactor, forcing it to detonate in a fiery explosion that left only a skeleton of his opponent's Mech.

He listened to the computer tell him to shoot the sphere, he did and then targeted the enemy Timber Wolf that came from another slot. He ran full speed in order to run by the timber wolf. As he entered the Mech's blind spot he fired an alpha strike into the hip actuator and blew apart the metal and myomer, ripping the leg off. The seventy five ton Mech fell to the ground in a pile of twisted metal, the pilot unable to keep the Mech upright with only one leg. He smiled as the computer awarded him the rank of Star Captain.

"Mike, star captain of the coiled vipers, the saKhan has noted your victory and courage, you are going to go to another battle against the wolves once again, on planet Bannockburn." Mike was very pleased with the report of his victory but was sorry to have killed a sibkin.

Mike took a quick shower after sweating like he had, and went into his room to get some rest after the trial.

New section

Dominic Paine ran down the hall and into a fancy diner, he was going to meet with his old lance, but unfortunately, only Epona Rhi was able to come, he sat down in the booth and ordered some steak.

"So," Epona began, "what have you been up to since our campaign?" She smiled and took a sip of her wine.

"Well, I'm not sure that it is you who should be asking… I've been at Solaris for three seasons now; but that's boring. I was thinking we should go back into active duty for the Eridani light horse." Dominic said after the waiter set the plate before him.

"War? I was dragged all over Tranquil and I must say… It was fun at first, but then, a long campaign of fighting with salvage, gets old." She replied.

"You know? You did promise me a dance on tranquil…" He began.

"I doubt you even could!" She mocked. "No, I'm sorry, I don't dance either, and I know you don't."

"It was worth asking." Said Dominic while he wiped imaginary dust from his clean suit's shoulder.

New Section

Brendan Corbett paced back and forth in his room with anger; his Gargoyle had been ruined by the inexperienced hands of the new Wolf clan technicians, the whole reactor had gone critical and his 'Mech was destroyed. Besides that, he was considered a bondsman and not even a MechWarrior. He ran out of his room and went over to a screen to contact his "master".

"When are we going into battle? I want to be a warrior again; a Galaxy Commander. Do you understand?" His voice was as cold as the vacuum outside the lunar installation on a moon of Arcadia.

"Brendan, you will only gain your old rank through all the battle and trials you have fought before, if you are truly as skilled as you say… you would not have fallen to the weapons of a freebirth." The answer was cold and bit to the heart of the proud warrior, though no longer of the warrior caste. "You have no rights through your failure. We are offering you a second chance for revenge… if need be."

Corbett was infuriated and stormed away to a place where he could take out his fury on any merchant he found.

New Section

Michael woke from a refreshing slumber and walked out of his room to one of the tunnels that connected different parts of the outpost stationed on an asteroid. It was in good jump distance of all the clan worlds.

He walked down the long hall till he reached the "Clan Hall" there was a large statue of a big snake that was coiled around a sphere with its head back for a lightning swift strike. He walked over to an elevator and rode it till he reached the briefing room.

The new mission was one of vengeance, the war against the wolves was hoped to be more successful than the wars between the falcons and wolves. This day Michael was supposed to lead two stars and a point of elementals into the fray against the 305th Cluster of the Wolves, with support of course. For both sides there would be a hundred 'Mechs.

Mike was given a Mad cat mark II for this mission, he was to have fighters strafing and vehicles coming in to harass the 'Mechs and enemy line. They would be there tomorrow to fight.

NEXT DAY

Mike sat in his Mech, sweating in his cooling armor and watching the enemy line as they assembled. He looked over at his star mate's Mech and saw that the pilot didn't have a neuro helmet. Instead he had many cords connected to his head and a tattooed face.

(AN: This is an actual way of clan MechWarriors to pilot instead of the bulky helmet, but it is new and just sort of a prototype thing, read from MechWarrior 2 archives on the game.)

He ignored this and checked his weapons again, two gauss rifles, LRM 20's, medium lasers. All of them checked out. He saw the galaxy commander, the warrior leading this battle; the Kodiak he piloted went past the Mechs, reviewing their status. When he passed Mike, the warrior moved his Mech's arm into a salute. The Galaxy Commander then met with the leader of the Wolf Clan forces in the middle of the valley they were in and came back disappointed.

"They will not surrender…" He said light heartedly.

"Well, sir, as members of the clans, we would not surrender to them either, it is dishonorable." Mike replied to the man's jest.

"Quite down and be ready for instructions, we will charge any minute now. Send the Flamer tank! Light up those trees!" He shouted the last bit through the comm.

They watched as the new Clan prototype tank, built with flamers and small lasers that would handle the few trees that blocked them. The trees caught fire and the wolves in the midst of it couldn't fire their weapons for fear of shutting down. The Galaxy commander ordered the charge and led them in formation to fight; he sent the lasers of his Kodiak into any enemy Mech he could see.

Mike led his binary and ordered the elementals to guard the unmanned aerospace fighters whose pilots were scrambling for their aircraft. He charged an Executioner and fired gauss slugs into the myomer and knee actuator of the right leg, and then slammed missiles into it and sent the Mech crashing down. His star mates fought with a ferocity rarely known; the lighter mechs circled the heavier ones and crippled them before the pilots could fire, and the heavier mechs sent wave after wave of auto cannons and lasers into the chests and reactors.

Mike turned and fired his missiles into the chest of a Dire wolf and tore away valuable armor. He then sent his lasers into it and fired his gauss rifles in quick succession, tearing apart the reactor as he slammed on his jump jets to fly over the flaming ruin.

Mike turned as he saw a salvo of missiles hit a gargoyle in the face and kill the pilot. The lightning streaks of the lasers and PPCs going on around him was confusing, but he kept his head, and turned towards a Marauder IIC and decimated the top gun with his gauss, but he was running low on those so he locked his missiles onto the hip of the Mech. He fired them and crippled the leg actuator. Its weapons still functioned however and it used them to destroy some of the armor plating of Mike's chest. He ran in close and fired an alpha strike into the Mech's cockpit, leaving a smoking ruin where it once had rested.

The battle was almost over, with 95 losses for the wolves and only 60 losses for the snakes. However an aerospace fighter sacrificed itself by crashing into Mike's Mech which knocked him over and tore away what armor he had left. His reactor shut down and left his Mech useless.

Mike grabbed his rifle and broke away the Ferro-glass shield with the butt of his gun and ran out onto the field. He saw a harasser come close to him, but when they got reached about ten feet he recognized them as enemies.

Mike jumped on top of the vehicle and opened the hatch. "How have you been warrior? I am glad I found you before…" Mike shot the pilot mid sentence and dropped into the crew compartment, firing his rifle in bursts to drop the rest of the crewmen. He removed the dead driver and tossed him into the rear of the hovercraft, taking his place and driving the vehicle back to the dropship for a new OmniMech.

Disclaimer: Ok, I don't own the MechWarrior world, but I own Mike, The coiled vipers and the flamer tank, and a few new things I haven't introduced.

Gfox: I'm sure I used "and" way too much, and I did edit the part with the elemental piloting the Mech, I just assumed it possible, oh my negligence, I even read that they are genetically altered for the body armor and that they are not exactly MechWarriors. Thanks for reading this and the reviews, it helps one to be inspired and write the next chapter.

RougeBaron: the only research I've done is on my old computer with the old game, I was too engrossed to stop for a while there. (It was very enlightening. Like myomer, I didn't know it existed till a few days ago.)


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3 

Disclaimer: I don't own the MechWarrior universe, but I do own the coiled vipers clan, Michael, and the new prototype introduced in this chapter.

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Michael parked the vehicle in the Mech bay of the Talon class drop-ship and ran over to the line of mechs sitting in their locked positions. He ran over to the elevator and was dropped off on the catwalk. He ran as fast as possible, knowing that time was of the essence, and jumped into the cockpit of a free Warhammer. He put on the neurohelmet and checked all systems; they were all go. The locks were released and he marched his Mech out of the ship.

Brendan Corbett, bondsman of the Wolf clan, sat waiting in the cockpit of his Super Nova, he listened to the comm. chatter and learned that the battle was going against them at the time, but he laughed, being with the dropship's reinforcements he knew that the tide would turn, low to high as it always does.

There was a shudder as the ship hit the ground, Brendan did his checks and listened to his master give the order to "go" and marched his 'Mech out of the bay, blowing two recon fighters out of the sky with green beams of energy.

Michael rejoined the battle, loosing PPCs into a damaged Dire Wolf that pierced the Mech's core and forced the reactor to detonate, releasing a shockwave that stripped armor away from a Bulldog that decided to move under the Mech at that time. The Mech's chassis crushed the light tank, rupturing the vehicle's power providing reactor and forcing it to also detonate.

Then he locked his missiles onto the weak torso of a Firemoth, with the armor ripped away he needed only fire one PPC into its chest to force the Mech to explode. This reaction sent the rest of the Mech going in every direction.

Michael smiled as he rejoined his star and had them follow him to provide support for the weakening galaxy commander, the Kodiak of his superior fired a burst of the LBX20 into the face of a warhawk that got too close and dropped the unpiloted piece of metal at its feet.

"Take down that arctic wolf!" Mike cried to his star, they obeyed with unequaled ferocity. Missiles, lasers, PPCs, and every other kind of weapon imaginable shot towards the Arctic Wolf to tear into its hide and rip away every shred of armor that protected it. The energy of the lasers burned into the reactor and pierced the core, creating a massive explosion that ripped apart another Firemoth.

"Sir, I have killed him." His star mate replied with speed, he turned his Mad dog and fired a volley of missiles into the arm of a cauldron-born, making the cannon housed there useless.

"Well done warrior." Mike replied as he launched an alpha-strike into the weakened chest, his salvo left a huge hole and a revealed reactor. "I wonder how he likes that extra heat sink." Mike said quietly. However, his own Mech's heat skyrocketed soon after the shot. He was forced to perform a coolant flush to prevent his Mech shutting down. Even so, the air in his cockpit was thick with heat, and the smell of ozone was heavy in his nose.

Then he ordered the regrouping of his star and marched in formation to join the galaxy commander who had been moving the whole time. While they were on the move, however, a full trinary came out of the forest to their left.

"Galaxy commander, there is a full trinary of reinforcements at our position. We shall hold them as long as we can." Mike said with the smallest sort of tremble, which he hoped would be thought of as excitement.

"Assist star captain Michael at Nav beta!" The Galaxy commander called out as he blasted the last wolf Mech with a salvo of missiles through the "heart" of the Nova Cat. He brought the full force up and marched at full speed. The wolves had a fresh trinary and two points of elementals, while the vipers were down to a binary of beleaguered mechs and only one fighter wing; all the combat vehicles were damaged or destroyed, most were the latter.

Michael targeted a warhawk and took aim; with zoom set to full he fired two PPCs into the face. One stripped away armor and glass, the other went through the pilot and deep into the chassis.

"Focus your fire on that Dire wolf" Mike ordered with sweat beading on his forehead, they obeyed, but with sad results, two of his star were killed just moving into position. "Call in the reinforcements, we need them now!" Michael called through the comm.

The galaxy commander answered with assurance, "They are on the way, hold position and continue to resist them, we are two hundred meters away, and reinforcements are hot dropping now." This heartened Michael and he fired an alpha-strike into the hip of a Kodiak, his star mates fired their weapons and destroyed the leg and sent the Mech down to bite the dust. Again his heat spiked and again he was forced to flush the reactor with coolant from his dwindling supply.

Michael then turned and took fire from a Super Nova, then fired his last missiles into the center torso.

Brendan took fire from what appeared to be the star captain of these units, he waited until his lasers recharged and disposed of the missile rack of his enemy; then the Mech charged and fired its lasers into his chassis. The lasers where followed by a single PPC, the other was crippled and unable to fire. The PPC burned deep into the previously crippled chest armor; Brendan saw too late that his Mech was down, and his body, as well as everything else, was burned to an unrecognizable crisp, that not even a family member would be able to recognize.

Mike looked at the Mech with satisfaction, and then fired his lasers into the knee actuator of a Summoner, ruining the leg. Then he hot-cycled his PPC to shoot it into a Dire wolf's chassis from the side; it was a lucky shot. The man made lightning pierced the armor and went in deep. The Mech's automatic shutdown systems failed and the Dire Wolf exploded like a missile from a Warship on an asteroid.

"We have to pull back!" Michael said as one star mate fell by his side, leaving just him and the Mad Dog. As he said this, a friendly star of assault mechs dropped in from the skies and opened fire on the Wolf Mechs, giving them time to back away to the sides. The galaxy commander arrived at that same time with the command star, and ordered his line to open fire. Mike pulled back while firing his Mech's lasers; all his ammunition was out.

The battle was ended quickly and the Wolf's losses were total, while the Vipers suffered ninety percent losses. The only people who truly celebrated were the salvage teams, since the winner of the battle was granted full salvage rights.

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Dominic Paine stood before one of the Eridani executive officers with his hands shaking nervously in his pockets.

"Dominic Paine, the best job we can give you is a job with Phelan Kell. He'd probably have you guard, but a job in a Mech is what you asked for." The officer said calmly.

"Ok then, when can I be off?" He asked, somewhere between excitement and disappointment.

"When he notifies us of his position; they are under the protection of ComStar and he would probably appreciate a soldier who has your experience against the Clans." She answered while waving her hand as a sign he could leave. He was satisfied and left with pride.

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Mike sat in a couch while he wrote the events of the day in his notebook. He had lost three good star mates and was not in the best of moods. He got up and walked over to the clan hall. After some reading in the archives, he went over to the "ready room" where he could be given a mission. To his surprise Clan Wolf and Clan Coiled Vipers had agreed that Clan Jade Falcon was the enemy; as such, his mission was against the Falcons.

Then he looked at the 'Mech he was going to use; a prototype assault Mech. The researchers wanted to test it in live fire, so they had given it to him. Why they had chosen him, he didn't care to know. It was armed with two repeater PPCs, several machine funs, and a LAMS. The Mech itself had the look of a Timber Wolf, except the missile racks had been replaced by omni hard points; in his model it held lasers. Because of the new design and the advanced zoom abilities of the computer, the researchers had dubbed it a 'sniper' class Mech.

Michael decided to go immediately to the planet of Sudeten and help the wolves clear out a training facility and destroy the Falcon's planetary HQ.

Michael landed on Sudeten the next day, and set his coordinates for Nav alpha after doing a full check on all systems. He was pleased to find that the zoom reticule could zoom incredibly far, and zoom out at different intervals.

"I guess this makes the Mech a sniper." He commented lightly.

"Quiet Viper," The Wolf pilot ordered, "we need the element of surprise."

The two mechs ran at top speed, the other pilot in a Timber wolf. They reached Nav alpha quickly and sighted their enemies.

Mike fired his lasers and SRPPCs into the chest of the trainer, melting the armor. His heat gage went up into the orange level, telling him he was close to overheating the Mech's reactor. He continued to fire another few shots with his PPCs every two seconds, managing to kill the trainer.

Meanwhile, his Clan Wolf associate had decimated two Firemoths and had started to fire on the pumping station that was at the Nav. point. Mike then zoomed in extremely close and fired his PPCs into the cockpit of an approaching Nova.

He sent the streaks of lightening into the hip actuator of a kitfox, melting away the armor and overloading the myomer fibers, causing them to snap. The leg was now useless, and with two lasers, he snapped the leg clean off the mech.

"How is the station?" Mike asked his foreign accomplice.

"It is almost destroyed, destroy those pumps and we can move on to the HQ." He answered.

"Aff!" Mike replied and opened fire, sending multiple shots from the PPCs into the pumps, the station quickly turned to ruins.

"Ok, now move!" The Wolf pilot ordered, Mike obeyed with a jump with his jets and landed next to the Timber wolf.

"I have sighted a grid of Calliope turrets around the HQ, and two stormcrows." Mike said with confidence as he zoomed out.

"Then snipe the turrets while I take out those Stormcrows!" He ordered.

"Aff." Said Mike as he piloted his Mech into a river with a good vantage point. He sent forth streaks of lightening and decimated the turrets, they returned fire quickly. His LAMS took most of the missiles, but the lasers chewed into his armor.

He turned to the other turrets, but then he got an idea; he fired continuously at the HQ till he knew that the turret control systems were down.

Then he targeted the last remaining Stormcrow and released his PPCs with glee, one of the legs was crippled and his assault left the Mech an easy target. The Timber Wolf killed it with one salvo, then turned his attention to the HQ, they tore it apart and then went off to the evac zone.

"It was an honor to work with you." The Wolf pilot said as they drew near the dropships.

"The honor was all mine." Answered Mike graciously. As they reached the dropships he turned to the Clan Wolf pilot. "Perhaps we shall work together again warrior."

"Perhaps we shall, warrior."

He docked his Mech in the ship and headed to the mess hall for a hot meal.

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I hope you enjoyed this chapter! But I have no quotes or things of importance to say. Please review me, and tell me things I did wrong, and right, and any tips on what to do next.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4 

Michael stood in an observatory booth and looked down at the new fighters that were arrayed in black paint. They were heavy fighters, with four turbines and a manta like appearance. Hugging the sides, were two SRPPC cannons, and an array of machine guns. A pilot hopped into the cockpit and launched the fighter into the sky with surprising speed.

"Whoa…" Said Mike with wonder. His Starmate standing next to him smiled.

"Oh, the wonders our technicians can create; here comes a flamer tank. The tank is clearly for scouting and distraction; I hear that in the recent battle they even shot down enemy planes." He said with admiration not hidden in his voice.

"I find that hard to believe; a tank with nothing more than a flamer and light pulse lasers can take down nothing but infantry and possibly a light tank. If I was a tank pilot, I would go for a Condor over a Flamer any day." Replied Mike.

They watched as the fighter went into a strafing run and decimated the area with PPCs and then banked went into the sky.

"I hear that because of the speeds at which that fighter flies it does not overheat from the PPCs. What we need now in our arsenal is a sturdy and efficient star fighter." His starmate said with a hint of pride emanating from him.

"Is there some reason that we are making new vehicles and weapons all the time?" Mike asked with smile.

"Well, one reason is that we are sick of the other clans having better equipment than us, and they always lord over us about how superior they are to us." He answered with a shrug.

"Is that your opinion?" Mike asked.

"Well, yes, it is." Said his companion with a startled glance.

"Right, well I better be going to review the new warriors being assigned to our star…" Started Mike.

"Right, I shall accompany you." Interrupted the warrior.

* * *

Dominic Paine sat in the cockpit of an old chassis from the star-league, or from before it; an Orion. He looked out over the horizon and sighed; he had been on patrol for three days now and he had seen nothing, except the occasional trailer of a camper that thought the place perfect.

"Oh, when will something exciting happen!" Cried Dominic, "I feel like I'm going insane, at least I had friends on Tranquil!" He sighed, his radar read quiet, and he was just about to turn back to the last nav and head for base, when a blip appeared on his radar, and he noticed that there was some interference with his comm..

"This is a restricted zone, state your name and reason for being here." Said Dominic with a shudder, "Who's there? Is there anyone out here?" asked Dominic on open frequency. There was no response, only static.

"Oh, man…" Dominic sank in his seat, cresting the next hill were three demolisher II's.

"State your name and business." He ordered with a shiver.

"We are warriors of the Steel Wolves; the true wolves hate the dogs of the republic. Let us pass or we shall, 'demolish' you, no pun intended." Said a voice with a chuckle.

"You cannot pass!" Shouted Dominic as he fired a full wave of missiles into one tank. The high explosive warheads slammed into the heavily armored hide of the assault tank and ripped apart pieces of armor plating. His lasers burned through the remaining armor of the tank's side and tore into the crew compartment, melting the tank crewmen's bodies into unrecognizable, charred forms.

The remaining tanks managed to get in range of their only weapons and ripped into his leg. Dominic returned fire with his auto-cannons, hitting the other tank and was amazed that he had hit the ammunition. The tank exploded in a giant fireball that set fire to the surrounding forest. He took more shots in the arm and lost the use of his laser that had been housed there. He fired all his remaining weapons into the last tank, tearing apart the heavy armor of the tank and ripping apart the vehicle's reactor. All that remained of the once fearsome tank was a charred skeleton in the middle of a blackened crater.

"Take that you Cretans!" Shouted Dominic with joy, and was glad to see that he was able to contact his base once more.

"We are under attack by heavies, all patrols recall for assist..." The communications officer's voice was cut short as an explosion echoed through the comm.

"All friendly units in the area report to and assist the base defenders." Ordered Dominic as he slowly made his way over to the base that stood a hundred meters away.

He crested a hill and saw the outer defenses in ruins, and the calliope grid neutralized, from what he could tell, there were two remaining enemy mechs, both in bad shape, a mad cat, and a Thor. Friendly aircraft were doing their best, but didn't stand a chance.

Dominic locked on with his remaining missiles and let them fly. He chuckled as the warheads hit the mad cat in the missile rack, setting off what few rounds remained there. The explosion destabilized the reactor and sent the mech down into a heap of rubble. The Thor turned to avenge his fellow warrior, and was distracted long enough to get an AC5 from a nearby Stiletto into a crack in his chest. The cold fusion reactor overloaded and the heavy Clan Mech fell to the ground. The pilot of the stiletto cheered on the comm. and landed next to the entrance of the base.

Dominic sighed and contacted the main base, "All attackers defeated, but the outer defenses were neutralized. The only good news is the salvage." He sighed again and parked his mech in a repair bay.

* * *

Mike listened to the report of the damage done to the Clan Wolf in Exile facility and was not pleased with his mission. Ulric appeared on the screen to speak to him.

"It would be most honorable of you, if you would send out a star or two of your warriors to defend the fledgling station as it recuperates. We cannot spare anymore of our own units with the trial of refusal we are currently fighting. Your Clan has units to spare, please assist us; we need everything we can scrounge up." he finished his message and disappeared from the screen, and the Clan Wolf insignia floated there.

Michael's galaxy commander looked at him from across the table. "Star captain Michael, I believe that we can spare your star, we will provide our brothers with Manta fighters and a star of flamer tanks. You shall leave tomorrow." He smiled sarcastically, and added, "You should be able to handle any rabble thrown against you from the Inner Sphere, or that rash warrior, Kerensky."

"Aff, sir." Replied Michael in true clan fashion.

* * *

Dominic Paine sat in a chair in a briefing room in the base of the exiled clansmen, or temporarily exiled wolves. Kahn Ward was sitting on the other end of the table.

"We have just received word from our ally that they are sending an extra guard force. They are from Clan Coiled Vipers, if you must know. They were created because we required a new clan to replace the one of the Smoke Jaguars. We orchestrated the transferring of bloodnames and warriors to form it, it has taken years, but they are successful and visionary, and as a token of honor from the Wolf clan, we added the name 'Ward' to their list of Bloodnames." Said the Khan with pride.

"So, how many soldiers are they sending?" Asked Dominic with interest.

"One star of omnimechs, one flight crew of heavy fighters, and a star of light tanks. They also remarked that if we need more, they would be obligated to send more men to guard the facility, but mentioned that they are only here until a new defense can be built."

"One star!" Said Dominic rising from his chair in a rage. "Are they that arrogant!?"

"I am afraid by your standards, yes." Replied the Khan with amusement.

* * *

"By the bloodnames of the founders…" began Mike as he stood on the bridge of the jumpship.

"You should be honored by being handpicked for this mission…" said a fighter pilot standing nearby.

"What do you know; this mission provides no honor, these Inner Sphere people have no honor. Being picked for this mission is only a sign that I have no value for the clan!" argued Mike almost spitting froth from his mouth.

"I never expected a warrior to be so proud. Do you know we are fighting to protect a Khan? Is not that not honor enough? I do not think you worthy of this mission after that outburst." Said the pilot with contempt.

Mike sighed, seeing the truth. "You are right; I should not doubt my superior's decisions, or my honor." Seeing that a humble warrior is to be more respected than one who always puts his men down with insults.

"Then you are more wise than I first thought, be mindful of what I have revealed to you, humbleness is wisdom, and respecting your men brings you trust, honor, and respect." Said the pilot as he walked off.

"I wonder if he would have become a philosopher, if he had the choice…" Said Mike quietly.

The ship jolted and went into a jump. Michael decided to wait in his quarters till they arrived.

(Next Day)

Mike once again stood in the bridge of the ship and looked at the planet below. Hidden in a mountain valley on Tharkad was the base they were going to guard.

"Prepare to detach from the jump ship." Said the captain as a warning. Mike heard the clamps holding the dropship to the Jumpship release and the smaller ship's engines burst into life. "Beginning decent towards the planet's surface." Soon the ship was heading for the planet, the blue of the oceans growing on the ship's view screen.

Michael ran to the Mech hanger and took command of a Mad cat mk. II, waiting till he could pilot it out. His star mates sat in nearby mechs, and awaited order to move. The doors opened and a gust of cold wind and snow blanketed his warm and snug mech.

"Move out. The facility is a hundred meters to the north." There were actually three stars of mechs in the hangar; one was composed of the new and now fully functional Cobras. The others included a Dire wolf, Timber wolf, Warhawk, and other mechs that would be helpful. The five MechWarriors piloted their Mechs into an open hangar and were surprised to find that the hangar floor lowered down and brought the mechs to a subterranean level with mechbays.

"How thoughtful." Said Mike with surprise.

"Well, I guess it is smart to have the mechs in a safe place." Added a starmate.

"Indeed." Replied Mike.

They had to take helicopters back to pilot the rest of the mechs back into the bay, and were soon sitting in a lounge/briefing room. Dominic Paine himself walked in to see them for himself and found they were pretty talkative.

"So, you are the reinforcements, I gather." Said Dominic with a chuckle. "I am Dominic Paine, Eridani Elite." Added Dominic with pride.

"You mean THE Dominic? The one who was on the Smoke Jaguar annihilation operation?" Said one of the mech pilots.

"You Eridani are quite respected for your daring and successful operations. The house of Elites goes back to the Star-league. Please sit down." Said another Pilot as he moved over on the couch.

"Thank you." Replied Dominic as he set his mug of coffee on the nearby table.

"So, I suppose in the morning we are going to start making plans for the new defense grid?" Asked Mike calmly.

"Quite so." Said Dominic in turn.

Mike left several hours later after listening to the war-stories from all the pilots, and went to bed in his assigned quarters.

While he sat there in his bed he remembered that Phelan himself came from the Inner Sphere, and had to have some knowledge besides insults and opinion and decided to talk with him the next day. Perhaps, they should side with the Nova cats. Perhaps the Star-league could once again become real through paper and pen, promises and alliances. His thoughts drifted on, and he fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Not much there, but here is chapter 4.

Disclaimer: I don't own the mechwarrior universe, but I do own the Coiled Vipers, Michael, storyline, flamer tank, Manta heavy fighter, and Cobra assault mech.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5 

Wrapped in warm clothes and a coat, Michael stood on a balcony outside the "mess hall" it was just about dawn, but he found it nice to wake that early. Warm mist let his lips as he breathed in, and out. Mike went inside and walked over to one of the empty benches, they all were, because there was no breakfast yet, he set a small and leather bound journal on the table and pulled out a pen from his pocket.

"On Tharkad, first day;

I have been thinking about the recent events, I do not think that we should go back to war after the end of the armistice; I believe that we instead should not conquer, but unite the peoples of the Inner Sphere by reason and respect, and show them that we can rebuild the Star-league.

My plan? I need to make our clan the most influential and most powerful, and perhaps become a Khan, or high ranking officer, then I can be an example to the other clans, and the Inner Sphere, by following what Alexander Kerensky Actually wrote, and lead like he led, IF I get the chance…"

Mike was just going to start another paragraph when the hall lights turned on and wasted away the light of the rising sun. Mike looked over at the switch and saw Phelan standing there,

"I didn't know you were an early riser." Said he with a smile.

"The early bird catches the worm,' Replied Mike with a chuckle, 'I have been meaning to speak with you." Added Mike with a small bow.

"What about?" Said the Khan with a look of a hidden ulterior motive.

"Should we go back and fight the Inner Sphere, I think it is possible to re-create the Star-league without conquering, I believe that the clans have become degenerate, and more zealous and fanatical than we were meant to be." Said Michael with relief, knowing that this man would most likely be the one who would tolerate this outburst of opinion.

"We saw your same point, one of the reasons we left. But do not be worried, there are still a few years before the armistice ends, and then it will be your choice, who will you fight for, forsake your clan and lose all your honor and become like the widowmaker? Or try to hold back and convince them that they should not go, or go boldly into battle against Comstar. In all cases, you have your choices." Phelan's comment encouraged Mike, and he decided not to worry.

Several hours later

Dominic Paine stood in the very back of the line for food.

"Whoever invented the food line has earned my ire."

Complained Dominic as he saw Mike walk passed with two pancakes and some sausages and bacon, the smell tortured him as he looked on at what appeared to be thousands of gluttonous goats waiting to eat all that there was, but in fact, there were only ten people in front of him, and plenty of food. When he finally brought his tray over to the clanner's table, just for fun, he found that they all had already eaten.

"I see that you voracious vultures have already finished." Teased Dominic, though he could see, that they had chosen their food based on the intake of vitamins and minerals. "You people are so self conscious."

"Voracious?" Laughed Michael, just after he managed to swallow his mouthful of water, "I would have preferred the worst food in my home, but the sluggards who cook here need a lesson." Mike hinted.

"Are you saying that one of you could do better!" Shouted the cook from the other end of the room.

"Aff! This warrior here could make an omelet that even Nondi Steiner would come begging on her knees for!" Replied Mike while patting one of his starmates on the back.

"Who ME? I can not cook to save my life." Complained the warrior.

"Well, You shall make an omelet, after I teach you." Laughed Mike, but later, he regretted it.

He spent hours trying to teach this guy how to make an omelet, and ruined many good eggs. Michael then went out onto the same balcony he had been on that morning, and looked out at the now setting sun, it was winter, with an early nightfall.

While standing there, the alarm sounded, ordering all mechwarriors to their mechs, this time, there were two lances of Capellans opening fire on the remains of the base. Michael jumped into his coolant suit and hopped into the cockpit of a Dire wolf, and radioed his star.

"In your mechs, base is under attack.' Then he radioed the airfield, 'Fighters, give me support, strafe the mechs, and stay out of range, I am going in." The locks released and his systems read nominal, he marched the mech onto the waiting elevator and was brought into the snow, he at once targeted a Sunder and fired multiple waves of ballistic projectiles into the chassis from his auto-cannons, then he fired all his lasers into the center torso and melted the valuable armor. Then while moving away, he locked on with his missiles and sent the Sunder down in a miniature mushroom cloud. The next target filled him with fear, a Fafnir, those damaged by the fighters, it was still fully capable, it launched a glowing slug which zipped into the torso of his chassis, the computerized voice reminded him that one of his auto-cannons was destroyed.

The next time it fired, the slug barely grazed his arm and left a small gash before impacting with an enemy Mad cat.

Mike armed his weapons and fired his weapons into the barrels housing the Gauss rifles, his missiles ripped apart the armor, and the armor piercing rounds went deep into the housed ammunition, the explosion the resulted took away that side of the mech and left one arm buried in the snow. The Fafnir still alive opened fire again, but missed completely, and gave Mike the chance to fire at the weak spot with all lasers, the Fafnir overloaded and collapsed in a heap of useless slag.

Out of the skies a Manta heavy jet spun and fired several bursts of its SRPPC and ripped holes in the armor of a Thor before banking and preparing for another dive. The Thor was moving in circles trying to get a shot off, but all attempts failed, but eternally when one of Michael's starmates fired several PPC's into the hole left by the jet, the Thor collapsed and sent shrapnel to the darkening sky.

Three mechs remained, an Atlas, Bushwacker, and an Uziel; Michael sent off four green beams of pure energy into the chest of the Atlas, and then fired his missiles to follow, his AC2 ripped a path after the missiles and impacted the newly revealed reactor, down went the war-machine, and then while his other weapons rearmed, he fired several rounds from his AC into the Uziel and cursed, he received two PPC's in the face, the glass was damaged and the cold winds hit his face like knives. He hot-cycled his lasers and fired them at the damaged knee actuator and ripped the leg off, the heat from the mech warmed him up, a little.

"Take down this Bushwacker, my ferro-glass shield is down, I am freezing!" Ordered Mike with chattering teeth. The fire of his starmates tickled the armor of the IS, Vulture imitation mech, PPC's then came in quick succession from the aircraft and dispatched the mech from the air.

Good work! All hostiles eliminated!" Shouted Mike as he viewed the area with his mech's back to the wind.

"Wait, Sir? There is a squadron of light armor coming in from the east, wait… what is that?… (Pause in the comm.) Sir, look out, that is not light armor, that is a squadron of Demolisher II's and condors, get ready." The panicking voice of the comms officer echoed through his HUD.

"Turn to the east! Destroy all enemy vehicles! Move into formation!" Ordered Mike with his hands trembling. They moved into a 'v' formation and waited for the condors to come into view, the Demolishers were still behind the next hill.

The Mad Dog next to him fired its pulse lasers into the first Condor to come into his sights, the lasers ripped through the armored turret and ignited the ammunition, the hovercraft exploded, and the mechwarrior turned his attention to the demolisher cresting the hill.

The Cobra in Mike's star stood back a little and melted all the Condors into slag if they gave him the chance, next to his mech, there were the old remains of Condors and the smoking ruin of two Demolishers with huge holes going clear through.

The Mantas swooped in and sent bolts of lightening into the cockpits and shielding of the tanks and light armor. One of the Mantas took an Ultra AC 20 in the turbine and went crashing down, but not to die in vain, the pilot fired his weapons till impact with a Demolisher, the tank was crushed and broken in two, the trail of searing plates of metal and ruins left from the last outburst of fire from the plane left three Condors destroyed and another two Demolishers extremely damaged.

Mike fired his lasers into one Demolisher and finished it off with his AC. (Not Air Conditioner.) Then he locked his missiles onto a damaged Condor and tore it to shreds with one salvo. With his lasers recharged, he destroyed a Demolisher that was already smoking; one condor came too close, and was destroyed when the foot of Mike's mech crushed it into a pancake of metal and fire.

"That has got to hurt." Commented Mike looking back, but got an icy wind stab his face, "I take that back, that hurts." Mike looked out at the field and saw that the remaining tanks were either retreating or destroyed, and noticed that the Cobra was chasing after them at a remarkable speed, and sniping them on the way, the two long barrels housed on the top of the mech fired green beams that ate their way into a Condor and tore it apart, the rest were picked off and the Coiled Vipers, won the day.

(Inside, hours later, after salvage team captured everything.)

"I won't underestimate your capabilities, but look at your mech, there are scars from the auto-cannons covering the mech, all of them!" Commented Dominic with awe.

"It was cold out there, cold enough not even facing the winds, but after I had my glass shielding knocked out, I almost got frost-bite." Remarked Michael

"Well, I am glad I was not out there, that was brutal, there were about twenty of those Demolishers, who can pay for all of that?" Asked Dominic.

"Well, we would be the ones asking you…" Answered Mike, matter of factly.

"You did extremely well!" Shouted the comms. Officer running down the hall, he stopped and checked himself. "I thought we were cooked."

"Do not worry while our star is on planet, sir…" Mike's starmate looked at him with a mocking expression, then she decided to be at least civil. "I pilot the Cobra, and these are the members of this star." She added this bit with a more pleasant tone, which was not too reprimanding for his hasty approach.

Mike looked at the screen of his computer and read the message sent by Ulric, he frowned, and looked up at his star.

"Guys? I think you should read this…" Said Mike with a doomed expression.

* * *

"… And give Frodo and Sam safe passage across the plains of gorgoroth(aragorn)…. _A diversion_." (legolas's stupidest line ever.)

Disclaimer: I don't own mechwarrior, whatever, I've you all that I own the character, and the Manta, Flamer tank, and Cobra, so thank you for reading this chapter, short I know, but who cares, I hope you do. And whatever it means, Merry Christmas to my readers.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Luckily I made a few changes in this one.

* * *

Mike looked at the screen in front of him in disbelief; he had read it over and over again.

"Michael, the message we just received from the Steel Wolves has informed us of their intent; they want to send a full trinary of vehicles, and another of mechs.

They informed us that your men would be destroyed if they stay there, but we told them you would not leave. You are going to have to fight them off; build that defense grid and mobilize your pilots. The good news is that it will take them a week to get ready, and a few more to get there. I have sent another star of heavy omnimechs to reinforce you, so hold steady and weather the storm."

Michael stood up and walked over to Dominic Paine who was leaning against the railing of a balcony in the mech bay.

"This is going to be tough." He commented dryly.

"My definition of tough is one lance against all." Replied Dominic sarcastically.

"We will be alright, but we must get to work on our defenses and repairs right away." Mike added with urgency in his voice.

"Ok then…' Dominic said coolly as he ran to the comm. 'All technicians get to repairs! Build up defenses and get ready for battle; we want optimum performance so do your best to keep us going!" He yelled into the comm. That echoed through the whole of the station. People began to mill around and head for their worksites and started the slow process of repairing the generators and the turrets and mechs. But there were still the clan technicians building a few Roland turrets; basically it is a laser turret that has revolving barrels of SRPPC, hopefully with their extended range they would be able to damage the drop-ships as they landed, and also weed out the vehicles. But the Calliopes would have to deal with mechs, as well as the pilots of mechs and aircraft ranging from Nightshades, to Mantas and Stilettos.

Michael gathered his Star and took them to the Simulators to save space and ammunition for preparation of fighting superior numbers. Each day was filled with terms of practice and workout. Each day they awaited the challenge of the Steel Wolves, and each day their defenses took more definition; the repairs were completed, and new turrets were built. And the small mountain valley of theirs was fortified, though not nearly enough.

At the end of the third week, the message came; a tight lipped and cruel looking man waited at the other end. And after a short introduction the message is as follows:

"Surrender and you will all be bondsmen, refuse and you ALL shall die." He declared proudly.

"I shall not! Your claim has been rejected and you shall be fought! Land and take what you seek!" Mike argued.

"Then you shall die." The reply was short and the connection terminated. And then the dropships came into their scanners, descending fast.

"Open fire at the engines with the turrets!" He cried.

The spinning barrels fired round after round piercing holes in the engines of the first ship as it descended. Suddenly fire engulfed it and the smoldering ruin came down.

"It will take a minute to cool down the turrets Sir!" a turret operation cried through the comm.

"We do not have a minute!" He answered sarcastically.

"Yes Sir."

After about thirty seconds the ships landed, and the turrets opened fire again, the drop-ship under fire opened its hanger doors; but too late. As a Warhawk and Dire wolf came stumbling out, a mushroom cloud devoured them.

"Sir! That leaves their force strength at two thirds of their original!" Came the joyous declaration from the Comms. Officer.

"Attack the vehicles that are coming out of those ships! Mech pilots to your mechs!" Mike yelled in the radio. The alarms rang and he rushed down to a Cobra waiting for him. He jumped into the seat with his coolant suit on, and strapped on his nuero-helmet. He did a full systems check and noticed his Starmates do the same. Dominic Paine being a point following them. And then the doors opened and he marched out to the elevator.

The floor beneath them rose, and they found themselves quiet as they came to level ground, the land was already being scorched by the weapons of their enemies; and targeting an enemy, he zoomed full in. He fired, and missed, the lightening bolt from his cannon streaking past its arm. Foolishly the mech stopped. And Michael to his aim and fired his two large lasers into the knee actuator, and followed it with simultaneous bursts of PPC's that tore the leg off; the previously proud Timber wolf fell to the ground. He turned and ran towards an enemy Stormcrow.

(Following Dominic)

Dominic's Sommoner thudded through the light snow that covered the land. He charged a Gargoyle and fired his PPC and auto-cannons into the arm and side making the weapon useless. The pilot snarled and returned fire; denting and stripping off valuables pieces of armor. Dom's missiles streaked out of his round missile rack and slammed into the face and chest destroying the glass shield that fell in pieces to the ground. The night air snuck in with ice and killed the unfortunate pilot. Dom turned and launched his PPC into the torso of a Kodiak that was luckily far away, since it used short-range weapons. He locked on and fired his missiles into the damaged area and tore away armor. Fortunately for him, the Rolands targeted him and fired multiple shots every two seconds. The armor melted and trickled down to clog his missile store. Dominic used the distraction and fired his all at the mech and brought it down with pride. He turned to see a Mad Cat mk. II flanked by condors coming towards him.

(Back to Michael)

A reverberating thudding filled Mike's ears as he went full throttle towards a Stormcrow. Firing his PPC's as soon as they recycled. His bolts of lightening slammed into the mech repeatedly and forced it to overheat and melt down to the core where it imploded in a fiery conflagration. And with his zoom window at it's full; he took aim at the nearby Drop-ship. The door was open.

"The fools…" He said silently as he pulled the trigger of his joystick.

Blue streaks of electricity streamed in the opened doorway and strafed the ground and welded the door open. And targeting the area of the fuel lines with his computer, and fired with precision into the walls o the ship. A smoldering hole was being widened and being made deeper every second, until a massive explosion sent a shockwave that knocked his mech over. All the nearby vehicles were destroyed, and the snow was definitely melted into steam. He brought his mech up slowly and saw that the battle was going against them. Then he looked up and saw a full star being hot-dropped into the fray, with the Viper's insignia on their mechs. They stopped in formation and waited a second, obviously informing the steel wolves of their presence. Then they opened fire. Their insignia glistening; the ravenous viper coiled around a golden sphere, obviously Terra. He regained his courage and charged his mech forward.

(Dominic)

Dominic's auto-cannons ripped through the air and tore a condor apart. And then he used his computer to lock onto the face of his opponent, and then with the sound of a 'beep' in his helmet, he fired all his missiles. They slammed into the cockpit as two gauss rifle slugs were released from their barrels. They tore apart his armor and left him vulnerable to the four condors that viciously opened fire at his torso. And just as he was turning to run; Mike's voice came in with the sound of explosions.

"Wow! Look behind you, they are gone!" His joyous voice cried.

He did, and behind him there was the remains of the hovercraft and the smoking barrels of the Cobra standing behind them, a badly dented and damaged Cobra.

"I need repairs." Dom said anxiously.

"Permission given, I shall give you orders when you come back."

"What about you?" Dom said looking at the mech of his leader critically.

"I go last, my men before me." He replied solemnly.

(Michael)

He watched the Inner Sphere champion go towards the facility glad that he could save him.

He turned and regrouped with his Star, there was still a Star of assault mechs who were busy holding the allied forces off. Mike's orders were simple; relieve allied forces.

Mike charged in front with his friends following behind, he crested a hill and started strafing the confused line of mechs with his PPC's, then his Star following by locking their missiles and simultaneously firing their lasers.

Mike chose a Warhawk and focused all his fired power, with two green beams coming from his 'shoulders' and his 'arms' firing the rapid fire PPC's. His star started circling their opponents and every time they were ready, they fired. Mike's Warhawk came down in flames, and he opened fire on a damaged Dire wolf. Right behind him, the eight lasers housed by the giant detonated the Mad dog behind him, but to his relief he saw the ejection pod fly into the air. Then a volley of missiles came from behind and struck the Dire wolf in the cracked torso, it fell. And the repaired Sommoner used by Dominic came into formation. The allied Star came in and destroyed the remaining mechs.

"Charge the Drop-ships do not let them leave this planet!"

"We should capture them for our use." Said Dominic happily.

"Though they might not want to." Mike replied. "First let us issue a chance for them to surrender."

"You do the honors."

"Remaining drop-ships, this is Star Captain Michael Viper of the Coiled Viper Clan. This is your chance to surrender before you take any further losses. What is your answer?" Said Mike with a dignified voice.

"And I say, forgetting the formalities, we shall not surrender as long as I live." Came a voice that sounded too cocky for his own good.

"Star Captain, I have located the drop-ship he his in." The Pilot of the Cobra next to him sounded ready to run ahead, she was definitely ready to finish this fight.

"All units, target that drop-ship and take it down!" Said Mike authoritatively through the comm.

They charged, and opened fire with all they had left; the remaining Roland turrets fired their PPC's over their heads to impact with the engines of the ship.

The steady stream of weapon fire way outnumbered the PPC's and Gauss rifles inside the ship that returned fire.

Mike tore a hole deep into the armor and noticed with satisfaction that everyone targeted their missiles for the hole. Some widened it, but a few made it in; and de-stabilized the reactor.

"Get out of the way, it is going critical!" He said while running out of the way. The shockwave destroyed one of his arms and damaged the rest of his mech severely.

But he reorganized himself and opened a link to the next drop-ship:

"Surrender or you shall all die without honor like your Galaxy commander." He said vehemently.

"Yes sir. We are powering down, we are your bondsmen." Came the slow and disappointed reply.

"Bring out the salvage and medical teams, mechwarriors go back for repairs." He ordered, and then to his star: "Meet me at the crew lounge and I shall have updates on our next move."

Michael turned and brought his mech onto the elevator, the floor came down and brought him to the mech-bay where he parked and got out.

In his mission review he was happy to learn that they had captured some ejected pilots, he found this somewhat heartening and uncommon. But to increase his joy he found that his Star mate had survived and was getting a medical analysis. Then he sent his message to his leaders and fell asleep in his chair.

(Hours later)

A small beep woke Michael, and he looked at his screen: A message from Ulric.

"Is this the only person who will talk to me?" He thought to himself with a yawn.

The message was shocking and he soon found himself running down the halls to the crew lounge.

"You have to hear this." He said excitedly.

"What is it?" Came Dominic's reply.

"We are going to Terra!" He answered ecstatically.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own mechwarrior, but as I've said before I own Mike, the Cobra, Flamer tank, and the mantas that had little use in this mission.

I hope people who actually read this enjoy it.

Merry Christmas!

I would answer reviews, but at present: none are available for answering.

-Tremble Wolf


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7 

His words range in the ears of his Starmates, they were just as excited as he was. They whispered the name reverently; "Terra…" They said it with a longing to see the ancient home of Humanity. And it took Mike several more minutes to explain the rest:

"Ok, calm down. This is not a 'shore leave', we are going on business." He stated after ramming his fist on a nearby table.

"What business?" Questioned one of his starmates.

"We are going to have a meeting with Comstar, Asus." He replied towards the Female mechwarrior who first asked 'why'.

Dom looked over at him and gathered his courage. "Am I coming with you?"

"If you wish. I am not going to hold you back."

"Then I will accompany you, if you don 't mind." Dom said cheerfully.

Mike cringed at hearing the conjunction so close but kept his composure. "Then you all should pack because we are leaving tomorrow. When we get there we will be in our mechs, if we fire at anything… we will be destroyed instantly. They have Overlords guarding the area we are going to set up the meeting; it will be through a secure comm. Maintain your discipline at all times and show them how honorable the clans are by our very stance. That is all I have to say for the time being. I am going to prepare." Mike stated matter-of-factly and left the room quietly to leave his companions murmuring with excitement. This was going to be a big day; they all knew it.

(Next morning)

Mike ran down the hall with sweat beading on his forehead. Turning sharp corners he had several near misses where he almost ran into a few people. But without time to apologize, kept on going. The elevator in front of him started to close its doors but Mike ran faster and dove through the closing doors. And straitening himself he saw a technician looking at him oddly.

"I am in a rush." Mike stated while brushing himself off.

The man in the elevator stayed awkwardly silent.

When the elevator doors finally opened; Michael ran out to renew his rush. In his hands he held a folder and a backpack strapped on his back had several necessities; including his computer, which he had built with his spare time. And turning the last corner, he saw the drop-ship come into view. And running up the ramp, he reached the mech-bay of the Talon class drop-ship.

He reached his room and thrust his bag on the bed before opening it with speed and care. He whipped out his computer and lifted up the screen. The message he had received was still there; it was a warning, a classified message from his superiors. They were worried, they had just been attacked, but they couldn't tell by whom. And the scouts who went to find out had disappeared as well. But they had managed to send some video footage before they died. What they saw were the remains of several drop-ships, when all of a sudden a huge missile impacted and the feed was lost. Everyone was worried; the Khan informed them that he did not authorize anything implying it to be an attack, not from within the clans. They suspected the Inner sphere, but pointing fingers at this time was foolish. Mike made sure to be on his guard when the meeting was arranged, but what he would hear would be the greatest shock of all…

The launch alarm went off, and the APU's around the ship drove away. Mike felt a lurch as the engines fired and the ship took to the air. He shut his computer and decided to sleep while the time allowed it. But he was too disturbed and couldn't sleep. He felt their ship get ready for a jump with a jump ship and then jolt as went forward towards Terra.

(After Jump)

A beautiful planet lay before them, with large cities, wonderful landscapes, and Comstar guards. Their ship was hailed and Identified, and led down through the atmosphere with intense supervision. A landing pad came into view and they began their descent into it. Mike and his Star-mates ran to their mechs and jumped into the pilot seats before the jolt of the stop reached them. They powered up their Dire wolves and Cobras and waited for the huge door to open for their release. The doors crawled open, and what they was a line of Atlases on either side of the ship and then two Fafnirs and three Longbowmen. And lying in wait to escort them was a Highlander. There was an audible 'whoa' in the comm. And Mike chuckled nervously.

All the mechs turned to face the six mechs, all Clan, except for Dom. He was in a Zeus. He led the way out and stood to the side while motioning with the arms of his mech for the Clanners to come out. Mike took the lead and strode mightily out. A 'thud' reverberated each time his mech stepped forward. The barrels of his SRPPC spun in a test made by his computer. And with a smile; he came out into the light of Sol, the sun of Terra. His Star-mates came into formation as they marched down the aisle. And out of the corner of his eye, he saw a helicopter with a camera that focused on the line of mechs.

"Remain calm. They will not fire at us unless we fire first. And remember; this is for the Clans." Mike stated quietly as they marched down the aisle. They went slowly until they met up with the Highlander that waited for them. Dominic went over and stood by his side. Then they led the way into a huge domed building that made Mike feel like he was going into a Trial of Position on some bio-hazardous planet. But he shoved that feeling away when he saw that they were walking into an empty field. Though it was dotted with strong-point defenses and several Overlord Drop-ships that had half of their bulk above the roof. When they reached the center; Mike ordered his Star-mates to shutdown and stand in their open cockpits. Several assault and heavy class mechs came forward from the insides of the Overlords. A Dragon came in the front and looked them up and down before opening a channel through the still active comm. Of the mechs.

"I am Colonel James Kuhlman of Comstar command. And before we start with the meeting; I would like to ask a question: Was the recent attack we just received, orchestrated by the clans? Because the survivors of one of the ships of the Davion house told us of an attack on their flight; They were mercilessly destroyed by an enemy who didn't respond to hailing and had no markings of any kind. Now I would like to hear an answer." Stated the pilot accusingly as he marched around Mike's Cobra.

"And I am Star Captain Michael of the Coiled Viper Clan. I do not understand your accusation. Because we were just attacked by an unknown force, I was ordered to ask if it was an attack from within the Inner Sphere, and if, then whom. And… Huh? One second I am getting a message from the Khan. No… That cannot be right. What?" Michael paused as he lost the feed. And then he looked up at the Dragon that circled him.

"I lost the feed. But what I gathered was that the Khan was under attack. Ulric has just been killed… he was attack and killed by Natasha Kerenski… Before he could get into a mech for an honorable fight with a dishonorable foe; they were attacked without a challenge. All the clans are in an uproar I am sure of that. With the Steel Wolves betrayal, they shall no doubt declare a trial of Elimination. But with no Khan to lead the Clans, they must soon decide a new one." Mike said in a solemn and sad voice as he stood straight and tall in his mech as he shed a tear for their leader.

There was murmuring amongst his Star-mates as they sat down in their chairs being so shocked. Knowing revenge was not far, and that they would be needed soon to end it.

There was no answer from the Comstar commanders as their mechs subconsciously twitched and shuffled in their places. And Mike powered up his mech before adding more to his previous conversation.

"We are needed at home. But if you would not mind in joining our cause, then the two great cultures can work for the greater good. And we do not know if our alliance may end in a reformed Star-League. But Now; I bid you farewell." Mike said in a quiet and sad tone before turning and marching his mech back down the aisle of Atlases and into the Talon Drop-ship. Then a voice came into his comm.

"Comstar is with you my friend. We will join you in a cause to unite the houses of the Inner Sphere with the Clans." James stated with exhilaration barely hidden in his voice as the news that when the armistice comes; war would not rise.

Mike parked and ran to his room to his computer where watched the message again.

"We are under attack! Rally back and fight this traitor! Natasha Kerenski is leading the Steel wolves Against us. We cannot hold much longer. (A shudder sends the Khan off his chair) I shall fight Natasha face to face and try to end this. What? No! If you do this you shall dishonor your whole clan and whoever follows you. Is not there enough dishonor piled onto you from attacking without sending a warning. (Now looking back at the computer) I fear this is the end. Kill her and bring honor to the Clans…."

In the feed, a blue streak slams into the panel and cuts off the feed. And Mike sitting on his bed; hangs his head in grief. Their society was lost, and now: he had to trust free-births. But that was not what worried him. He had seen many who had been wonderful pilots, like Dominic. He felt a jolt as the ship went into a jump in the direction of the new enemy.

"Our honor is lost,

A new battle is here,

The mountains in frost,

Have enemies near.

The life Ulric led,

The battles he won.

But now he is dead,

It cannot be undone…"

Mike murmured this as he felt his eyelids grow heavy. And then fell asleep.

(End of Chapter 7)

Sorry that it was so short, but that is all the events of the chapter. No battle yet. But please review since I rely on the tips given. Happy new Year!!!! God bless you!


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

* * *

NOTE: In the last chapter there was a Natasha Kerensky, she is not the same one that you know. She's a different Kerensky. And I'm not quite sure how long this story is going to be, but I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

Michael sat at one of the many tables that peppered the "mess hall". A trial of annilhation was not at all expected, and neither were the actions of the clans he had known all his life. It seemed that it wasn't a war between just two clans, but a full-scale civil-war. The two parties that were at war were led by the same two clans that had fought a trial of refusal several years ago. The Clan Wolf, though very weakened after the previous trial. And The Clan Jade Falcon, though now subjugated into the Steel wolves who now wanted a bigger peice of the pie. 

Most of the clans decided to join the rash Kerensky, but a few decided that her actions as well as the other clans were a degradation to Clan society. Michael's clan decided to join the Wolves in exile, along with the Clan Nove cat, Star adder, and Cloud Cobra. A few other clans decided to join as well, and were already fighting the forces of the catalist.

Mike sat at the table playing with his food, he was in no mood to eat; his life was changing, the clans would be a memory after this, and the Inner Sphere would survive till the end, always bickering and comming to the brink of disaster, but never like the war that would unfold. Mike was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't see Dominic approach.

"Still dejected after that?" Stated Dom with grim tone.

"I geuss you could say that... Can you not see? This war is going to be the end of the clans! Our society is about to be obliterated, what we need is more allies." Michael said slowly as he realized the scope of the situation.

"Well, you could ask the different houses of the Inner Sphere, though I doubt you will get help though, they seem to love to fight themselves first. But after all, this is a though situation." Dominic commented slowly. He didn't really mind if the clans were about to go bust, but, still, he should help one of them.

For once Mike was irritated with Dom and his "Clint Eastwood comments" But he did see some truth about the matter. Small chance of survival, no-one would want to help the clans.

"Well, Dominic Paine,' Mike said sorrowfully. 'After this battle I think we should go and ask for allies, in and outside the clans. This does sound preposterous, a clanner asking for help from the Inner Sphere. But I think it is our only chance, there is no honor if the clans all die."

Dom nodded and walked away, leaving Mike to his thoughts.

* * *

The rest of the flight was uneventful, that is, till they made it to Strana-mechty. Ships dotted the expanse around the world, all with differing insignias. Mike noted several of his own clan's ships and was relieved when they were placed in orbit with their clan. Mike opened a comm channel and hailed the lead ship. 

"This is Star Captain Michael of the Coiled Viper clan, we have received the call and have come from our last assignment."

"I am Galaxy commander Jordan Osis, the battle has already started down below, our clan has just been called to fight. Go with honor and lead your men to victory over the infidels."

"Yes, Galaxy Commander, I shall board my mech immediatly and prepare for a hot-drop." Mike replied with dignity, and then rushed off the command bridge and ran down the many halls to the 'mechbay.

Mike jumped into the cockpit of a nearby Cobra and had them insert flares into the omni-hardpoints instead of his lasers. With four flare launchers, and a ton of flares. He did a systems check.

"Local time is: 23, 31, GST. All systems nominal." Came the familiar computerized voice.

"We are dropping in soon, join our allied forces and follow the commands of not only myself, but also my superiors. Systems check?" Mike stated nervously.

"Ready." They all replied. Their ship came to a stop, and the bay doors opened. Mike brought his mech out and let out a steady stream from hi jets. His starmates, were right behind him, and as soon as they landed, they were besieged by lasers and missiles.

"Re-group! I shall cover our trek." Michael yelled in his comm. while he fired one flare after another at the group of mechs that attacked them. The shots stopped, and Michael guessed that they were blinded by the light. So he brought his mech in reverse and faced them while pumping tons of particle beams into the chassis of his pursuers. On red dot on his radar disappeared, and then a flight of missiles came from behind and whistled into the damaged torso of a cursing pilot's mech. Mike turned and ran towards his group as his enemies were demolished by friendly mechs. He made it to the top of a hill where he looked out towards a valley and saw the largest group of mechs ever recorded. Nearly of thousand or more dotted the land. Mike looked at the enemies and decided to fire his flares and PPC's into their ranks and do what he could.

"Use your long-range weapons to damage the mechs from here, then if we are called in, charge with a ferocity that has never been seen!" Mike ordered sternly.

"Aff Sir!"

"With pleasure!" Dom said excitedly while firing off his gauss rifle.

Mike fired his flares into the crowd. Small parts of the valley lit up and some areas of dry grass even caught fire, and his PPC's did more damage than he had hoped. Because when he targetted the front line, he let loose his all, and saw damaged mechs fall to his might. Things were going good.

"Charge!" Mike cried in his lust for battle, "To that hill! We shall strike them from there." One of his flares got caught in the air and moved about miticulously before the object was destroyed.They reach a hill that overlooked the plain quite well, and just as they were about to open fire, a laser came from behind and scraped a good piece of armor off Mike's shoulder. Mike turned and fired at the source, a flare landed on the nose of a Dire Wolf, and Mike focused on that one flare to take the monster down. The blue streaks leaped endlessly forth from the rotating barrels of Mike's SRPPC. The nose of the mech crumpled in and a loud crack was heard. Then, the mech fell to the ground without the reactor going critical. Mike circled the mech before scanning the area around the hill. Then looking into the valley, he saw bad news. The Steel Wolves Alliance had brought their forces forward. And were beating the Coalition of Warden-crusader clans back.

Mike fired his weapons again and again. they were running low on ammunition.

"Gauss out!" Dom cried

"Missiles depleted."

"Auto-cannon empty."

The reports kept coming in. And Mike would have non of it.

To the repair station, reload but do not take any armor, just the ammunition you need." He ordered stressfully.

His clicked the trigger for his flares, but a click was all he got. Then he resorted to firing his PPC's but found he couldn't hit from that far very well.

He brought his Star together. And issued his orders.

"We are going in with all we have. Stay with me and focus on one mech at a time. Kill them, wait for the reactor to go, then destroy the next, we shall route them!" Michael cried encouragingly.

A wing of fighters and Mantas flew overhead. Helli-copters came over a hill and started eating them up. Mike brought his PPC's to bear and brought them down. Condors and harrassers stormed by, followed by speedy flamer tanks. Mike turned and headed for the heart of the battle. "Kill them all." He said viscously.

He stormed in with weapons blaring and with crack-shot aim he devoured a wounded Summoner, no ejection pod, just a big campfire. His star then focused on a nearby Kodiak, the slag from their fire clogged his weapons, and the holes that bit him demolished the reactor housed inside. The battle was getting smaller, most mechs were crippled, many destroyed, and quite a few away getting repairs. The hours of fighting had taken it's toll, Mike was tired, the endless stream of fresh enemies was vexing him ferociously. When dawn's first light licked the field, it inspired hope in the drooping eyes of the mechwarriors. And then after ten more mechs were routed, they retreated. And All forces were pulled back. And Mike parked his mech, and stepped out while sweating profusely.

He turned and looked at the unrecognizable forms of the once proud war-machines that his star had been piloting for the past five hours. Salvage teams were out on the field, and armed escorts circled the trucks. This was a full scale battle, and after hours of sheer will, they fought through it.

"Permission to find a corner and sleep? Star Captain?" Dominic asked with a yawn.

"Granted, for everyone. Now we know how tired you get from a large-scale battle, quiaff?" Mike replied while he struggled towards the wall and leaned his back on it with a sigh. The rising sun warmed his face, but clawed through his eye-lids, forcing him to move.

He staggered through a dark hallway into a random room, and found himself in a council room filled with captains and other higher ranking officials. While more came in, just as uneasy as he was.

He sat in one of the many chairs and watched as an elderly but noble looking man stepped up to a podium.

"After that rough battle, I wish to congratulate you on your excellent performance. But the bad news of the battle is as follows: We suffered eighty percent cassulties, five percent fighting condition, and fifteen in terrible condition. That is for our mechs and mechwarriors. We get full salvage rights since this is our victory, but that does not help the newly revitalized clans who are now demolished because of one battle. The good news does bring some hope: Kerensky has declared a full retreat, and full victory in our favor. Her allies are leaving this system, The Battle for Strana-Mechty is over." Said the man in a solemn voice. He dismissed them, and Mike meandered over to where a small bunk invited him. He dropped onto it and blacked out.

* * *

Thank you for reading chapter 8/9 !

I hope you leave a review because those are always appreciated. I hope you enjoyed, it because it isn't over yet. I don't know why I talk like I have it all mapped out, because I don't.

Please read my new story, it is a western. Based off the Clint Eastwood movies I've seen. Anyway, Thank you for stopping by.

-Tremble Wolf


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9 

Disclaimer: I do not own mechwarrior.

* * *

Aboard the "Fang"

_Outside Strana-Mechty_

_May 21st 02:37 GST: 3073 A.D. _

Mike jerked awake as an alarm sounded in his ears. He heard a distant voice counting off numbers, and he saw people outside rushing to their stations. A loud boom echoed through the hall and knocked dust off the ceiling into Mike's eyes.

He ran outside and rushed down the corridor to the Bridge of the ship; his way over there was blocked with piles of debris and even a few dead. He ran onto the deck and saw the captain shouting orders, and the officers rushing about with the controls.

"Fire!" The Captain cried with a red face.

Several PPC's and large lasers all fired in quick succession, Mike follow their trail with his eyes and saw them strike an Overlord class drop ship, he saw it melt a hole in a high area of the dorsal structure.

"Target the engines!" Mike suggested over the loud rumblings as a gauss slug hit their Hrothgar.

"Do you want to lead here?" Demanded the Captain.

"No Sir! I was just trying to help." Mike replied before being thrown off his feet. A piece of glass from a shattered cup flew across the room and embedded itself in Mike's cheek, blood dripped from the wound as he pulled it out.

He got up and turned around before leaving.

"I shall be ready to fight if they choose to board us!" Mike then rushed out and back into an elevator. He pushed the button for the mechbay and armory. He cursed the slowness of the elevator but was very thankful when it stopped and dropped him off.

He ran down the hall and opened a steel door by typing in his number on the keypad. He walked in and looked at the shelves, several racks of protective plating and weapons lined the walls. Mike casually grabbed a uniform and put plating over it, before he grabbed a long knife and slinging an automatic over his shoulders. Then he grabbed a small pistol and strapped it to his thigh.

"I should be fine…" He stated as he donned a helmet.

Several times there was a jerk that sent him stumbling several feet, and one sent him out the door.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Blared the alarm as Mike ran down to a computer terminal. He looked at the layout of the ship with its decks and saw that deck five had been boarded. He ran down to the elevator and cocked his rifle and looked down the sights as the door closed and started to descend.

The elevator stopped, and Dominic rushed in fully armed and carrying a shotgun.

"I'm ready, Star Captain." Dominic saluted.

"Then be ready to fire, because it is going to be hot down there, quiaff?" Mike replied calmly, or as calmly as the situation allowed, which could be labeled as on edge.

As soon as the door opened, a bullet ricocheted off Dominic's shoulder, who repaid it with a round of shot.

They rushed out to the only cover available; doorframes. Mike leaned out and fired a stream of lead into the hall, several of his bullets hit his opponents, but most either bounced off or missed entirely.

"That isn't going to do you any good." Dom said while shaking his head.

"What then do you recommend?" Mike replied as a loud whistle indicated a miss.

"This." Dominic said with a smile while he held up a small container, more like ball. He pulled a pin and tossed it over to where they all stood waiting to fire. Mike ducked as a large explosion sent several dead soldiers by where they stood.

"That worked…" Mike said while shaking his head.

"Let's be off." Dom said as he pointed down the corridor at the small med bay that occupied the space beyond a steel door.

They rushed down the hall with their guns poised and ready. A shout echoed from an intersecting hall, Dom and Mike dove, and rolled to the other side and stopped.

Mike raised his rifle and turned around the corner to see a group of soldiers wearing the uniform of the Falcons. Mike fired several bursts from his gun and emptied the clip in seconds.

Then he slung up his rifle while bringing his laser pistol into use. Two men dropped to their knees as the effects of the bullets silenced them; Dominic also dove out and rolled ahead of Mike while pumping a round into the barrel of his shotgun.

Dom opened up and loosed his scattershot into the belly of one of the soldiers. The fourth man standing tackled Dom and rolled him onto his back.

Mike pulled the trigger and released the charged beam into the heart of a clanner as he dove out of the boarding ship that had latched onto the Hrothgar. Before he ran over to the door to check if there were more. A lead bullet imbedded itself in Mike's arm, proving that there were more men. Mike ignored the pain and lunged out of the doorway.

* * *

Dominic still struggled with the large clansman on top of him. He delivered a hefty blow to the man's shin with his foot. But still he didn't waver, he soon got a grip around Dom's neck and started to squeeze. Dominic reached with his hand and brought it into the man's armpit, he pinched the muscles and nerves with a vise-like grip that forced the man to let go of him.

Dominic rolled away while regaining his breath. He turned and faced the clanner while he readied his fists; he partially curled his right hand and deflected a punch from the man with his left. Then he brought his right hand over head and brought a downward blow to the man's chest, specifically his floating rib.

The man collapsed in momentary pain as the rib was dislocated and speared his inner organs. Dom grabbed his pistol and fired a round through his head.

* * *

Mike slammed another clip into his rifle and jumped into the docked ship while he blanketed the entire room with bullets. He heard two cries as he found his opponents. Quickly and decisively he threw his combat knife into the chest of the first one to stand.

Then he unloaded the rest of his clip into the next soldier. He rushed over and cleaned his knife. Then he grabbed a few extra clips from the dead men and rushed out to find Dominic shooting the defeated clanner.

Dom tired and sweating from the struggle leaned on the wall for a moment.

"Keep it simple and it will not be so hard." Mike chided while he applied pressure to his arm.

"What would you have done if he was on you?" Dom replied.

"I would have not let him get on me in the first place." Mike said with a smile.

"Fine." Dominic stated as he picked up his shotgun and placed a few more rounds into the magazine.

"Quick!" Mike said as he began to canter down the hall. "They have more men on the inside."

"So be it." Dominic stated as he started running to catch up.

Michael and Dominic turned a corner and were faced by something to be feared, even for a mech: Elementals.

They both opened fire but their bullets helplessly ricocheted off the armor of the giants. Dominic rushed forward and dodged a blast from the Elementals' Lasers. Mike rolled to the side while he targeted the facemask and spewed form metal slugs that downed one elemental.

Three more to go, Dominic slid under the legs of one while another fired their laser where he was. The laser hit one of the Elementals and killed that one.

Dominic jumped up and shot the Elemental that he had just slid under, in the back with two rounds. One shattered the armor, while the other send the giant to the ground.

Mike was unable to dodge the claw-like hand that the Elemental used to bring him face to face with it before it readied its laser.

Mike took his knife and began to kick the Elemental repeatedly, before he plunged the knife into a weak spot on the torso.

Mike fell to the floor and reloaded his gun before he slung it on his back. Then he continued on down the hall with Dominic following quickly after. The thud of their boots hitting the ground timed in with their quick breaths as they trudged doggedly onward towards the docking bay meant for the fighters housed therein.

* * *

_A/N (__I'm not sure if Hrothgar class drop-ships have fighter wings, or docking places for them, but let's just say that this Hrothgar was modified.)_

* * *

Metal doors parted as they both marched through. Wreckage was strewn everywhere and there seemed to be a battle still raging on. Elementals and Clansmen seemed to be fighting endlessly as lasers and bullets and gyrojet projectiles flew everywhere.

Dominic found a sniper in the hands of a dead clansman, one of the Falcons, but he took it and reloaded it.

"I see one." He stated as he looked through the scope and fixed his crosshairs over the head of a dominating elemental. The recoil of the gun slammed back into his shoulder as an AP round blasted a hole in the head of one of the power armor wearing elementals.

Mike himself dropped from the ledge, since the stairs had been demolished. He slammed in a fresh clip and took aim. Several scientists with laser pistols rallied over to where he was and fell into defensive positions.

"Star captain!" They all said as they saluted for a split second before returning to their business of firing their pistols.

Mike whipped out his laser pistol while picking up another from the ground. He jumped over a barricade and opened up with a volley of split beam laser blasts that sent two elementals to the ground.

Dominic sighted one of the few remaining Falcons and fired again and cored a soldier in the heart. He watched as Mike rolled to the side while firing his quickly over heating pistols.

Mike dropped his pistols as they began to burn his hands; he brought his rifle to bear and in a split second, went to full auto. Tons of ammunition sped from his gun as he charged the last three men. A sniper round cut down one, while the volley from Mike decimated the others.

Michael took a deep breath and looked over to another mechwarrior walking over to him, obviously a lower rank.

"Give me a situation report." Mike said as he took a seat on a crate.

"We have subdued the Jade Falcon ship, though we sustained terrible damage, and are going to be forced to land for repairs. Most of the fighting inside the ship is being mopped up. So far, we have taken forty Falcons as bondsmen." The tired mechwarrior replied with anxiety as the ship creaked and groaned as it tried its best to repair what it could before going through the atmosphere.

"Why would they attack us?" Mike pondered as reviewed the events of the past few days. He was interrupted as Dominic came rushing over.

"So what? Did we win?" He inquired.

"Yes." Mike replied as he took some tweezers to his arm, and tried to remove the bullet.

"You know, that isn't a wise idea…" Dominic said as he what he was doing.

"Does it look like I care?" Mike asked rhetorically.

"No, but I seriously suggest that you forget the whole macho make up and go to the med room." Dom said with a grin that spread over his dirty face.

"Dom… you need to shave." Mike said as he gave in.

"Really? Do you think so?" Dom said while rubbing the stubble on his chin as he walked Michael over to the medical center of the ship.

"Yes, and you need to shower." Mike said as he noticed the horrendously obvious odor of BO.

"I think that smell is coming from you; you were the one running so much." Dominic chidingly remarked before adding: "I bring the Paine!"

"So you think…" Mike uttered under his breath as he walked into a messed up med lab.

* * *

_So guys… what did you think? Did I do all right? Well please review this time, and well, give any ideas if you have some._

_Also, any constructive criticism would be appreciated._

_Thank you Kat Wylder and Rouge Baron for your helpful information and comments. Both greatly appreciated._

_Once again, wait till later._

_-Tremble Wolf_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10 

**Disclaimer:**_I do not own mechwarrior, however, the Cobra, and Manta, and Flamer tank were all my ideas, Mike is my character, and well, so is the clan; the Coiled Vipers._

_I'm sorry about making up so much of this, but hey, they aren't "super-mechs" or anything invincible._

* * *

_Aboard the "Fang", medical room #5_

_Outside Strana-Mechty_

_May 22nd 11:57 GST: 3073 AD_

Mike was mostly there for checking up on the other wounded, but Dominic insisted that he have the cut on his cheek stitched. Mike regretted allowing him to stitch him up…

"Dominic!" He cried as the needle pierced his cheek.

"What?" He replied while forcing the needle through the other side.

"One would think you had never done this before… ugn… In your life!" Mike said with difficulty as Dominic forcefully put in another loop.

"You'll be thanking me when this is over."

"No I will be stitching you to a wall so I can beat you." Mike replied with as much of a chuckle he could… Which wasn't much.

"Hold still!" Dom said as the ship rocked a little, ever since the space battle, they had been having "quirks" with the engines, either they would respond too much, or too little.

Dominic finished by tying in a knot and trimming the wires, Mike quickly ran over to a mirror and saw the terrible work.

"Thanks… Now I shall have to live with an obvious and unimpressive scar." Mike said sarcastically, he was right, that was going to be a thick one.

"Oh who cares, what better way to impress the ladies?" Dom said hoping to cheer him up.

"And that is exactly what I don't want! Thank you." Mike replied at the unthinkable remark.

"Oh, um… Not the Inner Sphere, over there, anyone would've asked if it really would work. However, that really is an unimpressive skill. Dominic said at an attempt to calm him down, right now he knew that they all needed rest.

Mike sighed and walked out of the med bay and went in the direction of his room.

(Dominic)

"Man… I wish that guy would lighten up… Everyone here is too serious… What is causing them to be so, so, what is the word that describes this? Indescribable." Dominic though as he watched Mike leave, he really needed his vacation hours.

Mike opened the door to his room and threw himself onto his bunk before he passed out, it wasn't his fault, but when he threw himself, he hit his head, and blacked out.

It was several hours later, 17:09 to be exact, but Mike didn't care, all he noticed was a pain in his stomach. He combed his short hair and marched out of the room to be greeted by one of his Star mates.

"Good afternoon Star Captain." He said

"Good afternoon, do you know if we are leaving soon?" Mike said as the man leaned against the wall in a relaxed manner.

"Not sure, but I was told to give you a message; Dominic says that he would like to see you in the "mess hall"." He replied.

"Aff." Mike said as he turned down the hall.

"Wrong way Star Captain!" The mechwarrior shouted as he went halfway down the hall.

The man quietly snickered, but as Mike passed him, he cuffed him harshly on the ear.

"Hey!" He cried out in alarm.

"Do not laugh at your superior." Mike stated before moving on.

The dinning hall was crowded but not as full as it usually was, since a lot of the ship's passengers were either wounded or dead.

Dominic sat alone at a small table sipping a mug of coffee. When he saw Mike he waved him over and ordered him a drink.

As Mike sat down, a mug was set in front of him. Mike took a sip and noted its good flavor. Dominic pulled out a small board and also brought up a box and set them on the table.

"Well, Michael, I was seeing how you have been stressed recently and I thought this might make things go by smoother." Dominic then began to take out small wood carved pieces and lined them up on the board.

"Ready for a game of chess?" He said as he Mike hungrily staring at the plate of roast chicken that was brought to him.

"I am ready for anything at this point." He replied in a satisfied manner.

Dominic had been the king of the chess club in his elementary days, but he was astounded by how logically Mike set up his defense.

Dominic finally saw a break and brought his queen in.

"Check!" He said victoriously.

"Not so fast." Mike stated as his bishop came from the other side of the board and killed the queen.

"What?" Dom said open mouthed.

The people at the other tables began to get interested in all the surprised remarks continually coming from Dominic. The cook once came by and saw how badly Dom was losing and dropped his plate.

Mike pushed his rook into position with a gleeful smile.

"Checkmate." Michael said happily.

"Says you… But my king is actually a nuclear missile!" Dominic said as he picked up his king and made a sound as if the king were launching and was about to incinerate the board.

"Well my pawns are all anti-missile systems." Taunted Mike.

"Fine… you win." Dom said before adding. "I had thought that this would lower your stress, and it did, only at the cost of mine."

Mike laughed and ordered another plate of meat while Dominic put away the board.

Michael shook his head as he walked down the hall to his room. Why was it that Dominic could be so joyful sometimes? What did he have? The only time Mike ever found some sense of joy was when he was around Dom. Why was that?

Mike continued pondering and went right by his room without noticing. And soon he found himself in the mechbay.

"Why is it that most mech-pilots find it heaven to be in a mech? I find it stressful." Mike thought as he saw the technicians working hard to repair the damage done to the walls and catwalks from the previous battle.

Mike turned and strode back down the hall to his room and sat on his bed with a "huff". He didn't get it, but that didn't stop him from lodging all his thoughts away before lifting one of his weights.

Dominic sighed as he was beaten by another clanner at chess.

"I was setting my board as if to play a smart person, you were too confused that my strategy didn't work." He stated, he regretted it though, because the mechwarrior slugged him in the face as hard as he could to compensate for his loss.

"Ouch!" Dom said as he rubbed his jaw. "Be a sore winner, cause I'm leaving."

Dom went to his room and pulled a razor from a drawer by the sink. He sighed as he put soapy lather on his face and brought the blade smoothly down his face. His stubble disappeared and he began to look several years younger.

When he was finished and had washed his face, he went over to a chair and began to read a book that was sitting in it.

* * *

Michael placed his weights on the floor and walked out of his room. The dull gray metal walls of the hall were dimly lit as Mike strode down the hall, his boots clicked on the floor with a quick tempo. There was a slight shudder as the ship finally began its decent to the planet for more extensive repairs now that it could withstand the passing through the atmosphere.

The clinking of his boots stopped, Mike stood looking down the hall to see where he was; the elevator to the bridge was right in front of him. The door slid open with a quite hiss and he stepped in.

The low-pitched hum of the elevator did not last long as it quickly brought Michael to his destination: The Bridge.

The captain of the ship sat in his chair giving orders, while Mike just leaned against the nearest wall and looked to the outside. They were slowing down to a stop as it neared the ground, and landed in a large complex.

Mike watched as the technicians outside the ship ran to and fro, and could hear the groaning of machinery outside.

He looked to the Captain and decided to talk.

"What are our orders?" Mike stated with a crisp posture that would make a physical therapist proud.

"We leave the ship to its repairs, quarters have already been supplied, all personal have been sent a communiqué with all the information they need… You can consider this a sort of Shore Leave, except I have no doubt that you shall be given duties." Came the casual reply, most other clanners were not intimidated by Michael, because he had no desire to walk over people.

Mike nodded and left the bridge. He went to his room and read the letter. Room five-thirteen, patrol duty from 1300-1500.

He quickly packed a bag and strapped his pistol and knife to his belt before leaving.

Michael was walked across a bridge that connected the ship to the platform when, Dominic came rushing up to him.

"So I've finally found ya!" He said after a sharp intake of breath.

"Yes, I am right here." Replied Mike with a tired expression and tone.

"Um… Okay." Dominic replied in a somewhat chastened version of his chipper demeanor.

"What room are you in?" Mike said quickly as if in apology, though Dom doubted it, Clanners didn't really care.

"I'm in room five-eight, I have to go on patrol with another pilot, because they don't trust a 'freebirth' with important things like that." Dom said with a happier tone, but he stated the word 'freebirth' in a sarcastic and disapproving tone.

"I see…" Mike replied half listening while he got into a full elevator while Dom had to wait.

The Elevator took him to the bottom and he fast-walked it over to the command center where a one-person room was reserved for him, other rooms like it were also reserved for the higher ranks and classes.

Michael strode down a hall till he saw the room with his number and saw Dominic in the hall behind him enter another room.

_"He may not realize it yet, but he is being seriously honored by being given a commander's room."_ Michael thought while he shook his head and entered his room to gear up and get ready for his shift.

His shift was easy, cakewalk; there were problems or abnormalities. But the next day would be a whole lot different.

* * *

_Sorry it took me so long to up-date, but I figured you guys weren't too interested, and also I was doing a lot of reading on other stories and was too sidetracked._

_Hope I update soon…._

_And thanks for your reviews._

_-Tremble Wolf_


	12. Chapter 12

(_Author's Note: Hey guys, I just noticed that the armistice had ended in 3067, (oops), and the year is 3073, the reason that they haven't invaded the Inner Sphere is because of internal turmoil. The clans are all at war now, I guess it is the Clans' War I.)_ Chapter 11 

Strana-Mechty ("Land of Dreams")

6:49 GST

--Patrol Duty—

Battlemech stats: Sommoner: 70 tons

Armor: Ferro-Fibrus

Internal Structure: Standard.

Weapons: ER PPC

Clan Gauss rifle

C strike 4

All unused tonnage compensated by added Gauss ammunition.

Terrain: Marine Temperate.

* * *

Michael yawned as his Sommoner trudged across the terrain inasmuch the same tired state as its master. He had already marched for nigh fifty minutes without any disturbance, and his second hour was going to start.

He made a mental note to get some sleep when he got back, and continued up a gassy hill to see a deer run away. He wished he could do some hunting, but he knew that he wouldn't be given the time; he had duties to his clan.

Michael jumped as a tree fell across his path, his metal frame tripped and fell face first.

His radar crackled and a sinister voice sliced across his comm., sending a shiver down his spine.

"Hello, I am Paul Redmond of the Fire Mandrill clan. I challenge you to a duel for the honor of my clan."

"I am Star Captain Michael of the Coiled Viper Clan, you challenge me, and I accept. Well bargained and done." Michael replied as he stood his mech up with a slow screech of metal on metal.

"One question first…" Mike stated before ending his thought. "I stated my rank, what are you? _Dezgra? Outcast?"_ Mike taunted as he noticed a quiver in his enemy's Mad Dog.

"You will call me bold-holder soon enough!" Replied the Angry blood-named mechwarrior.

"I doubt that." Mike answered before he hailed his missiles into the face of his opponent. The counterstrike of his enemy was far fiercer as the fiery warheads impacted into his side and melted away bits of armor and sent other pieces away at lightning speed.

Michael wiped his brow as he pulled the trigger on his gauss rifle. The magnetic rail gun spat its slug into the torso of the Maddog. The slug tore open the metal casings and ignited the ammunition housed within. One half of the Maddog became a charred skeleton of black twisted metal.

"Curse you sibko brat!" Redmond's cry was harsh to his ears, but Michael only replied by electrifying the Maddog's nose with his Particle cannon.

Paul sputtered out his pulse lasers and scorched black lines across Michael's side. His C-Strike 4 missiles peppered the mech, making it even blacker. The heat was rising in his cockpit as Michael fired his now reloaded gauss rifle into the awkward shaped frame of the crisp Maddog. His shot went straight through the core and destabilized the reactor.

Fire.

Michael stumbled away as it went up in a mini mushroom cloud. The shockwave hit him nanoseconds later and threw him on his face.

With a grunt he righted his mech and looked at the horizon in the direction of his Nav.

"I hope I do not have to do that again." Mike thought to himself while he put his speed to full and trudged for nav beta. The glare from the sun peeking through the dark nimbostratus clouds gathering about him impeded his vision as set it to autopilot so he could shade his eyes.

Mike cleared nav Beta and turned the bend to come to the next nav, gamma. He passed uneventfully through that one too.

But… When he was heading for Epsilon, his comm. Crackled.

"Recall all patrols! Forward is under attack!"

"I am coming." Mike replied and went full ahead.

The dirt was thrown uselessly behind him as he trudged dutifully on. And as he crested the next hill, he saw the attackers mauling a TimberWolf and a Maddog.

The attackers were a group of Condors and Harassers accompanied by a point of elementals, (Five Elementals a point, right?) and Hellhound and Shadowcat.

The Condors were busy pounding the TimberWolf with their AC's and didn't notice when Michael's PPC disintegrated one of them, and another was crushed by his gauss rifle. Mike's C-strike missiles found the air cushion of one of the Condors and demobilized it.

The Mad dog quickly finished it off with its pulse lasers. While the Shadow cat took the destructive blow of all their missiles, Michael, the Timber Wolf, and the Mad dog all locked on and fired their missiles at once. The blow immediately destroyed the mech.

The Timber Wolf fired its lasers into the last remaining Condor and left it smoking in a puddle of slag and molten metal.

Michael thundered forward and began to circle the Hellhound. What he got was an LBX shell to his shoulder, which knocked him slightly off balance. Mike leaned in his chair and stabilized himself while replying with his gauss and PPC firing at once into the face of the almost dizzy looking mech. Sheets of armor flew in all directions and others purely melted by the PPC that also impacted the mech.

It staggered and tripped over a passing Harasser, and crushed it at the same time. Mike launched more of his missiles into the back of the mech. The Mad dog trudged behind him and chased down a Harasser that had an Elemental on it, firing his lasers incessantly.

"Hungry?" Mike sneered over the comm. As his gauss rifle and PPC finished recharging and reloading. "Then eat this!" He demanded before he loosed the Gauss slug into the now righted mech, before following it with his PPC.

The heat of the PPC went into the reactor and detonated the mech like a grenade.

"Look! Fireworks!" One of the other pilots sated over the comm., in a cheerful voice.

LRM's streaked past, Mike followed their path with his eyes and watched as they threw one of the Elementals about twenty meters before killing the occupant of the power suit.

His PPC glowed on the end of his arm for a brief instant before it was flying into the hull of the last Harasser. Two Elementals stood still in the middle of a dip in the ground. They both looked down the barrels of the guns of three heavy mechs. They split, running as fast as the two thousand pound armor would allow. One charged Michael and punched its jets in an effort to collide.

It impacted with his mech soon after it had fired its missiles. The Elemental began to climb up his mech's torso, and Mike realized what it was doing and powered down his mech while pulling out his sidearm.

Mike opened the hatch of his cockpit and watched as the monstrous looking Elemental dragged itself closer to the cockpit. He leaned over the edge and pulled the trigger of his small laser pistol. The first few shots only succeeded in making black dots on the armor, but with a little aim, he was able to get some shots to hit the same place and make cracks.

With a wicked smile, Mike began to fire at the beleaguered Elemental's claw that he was using to climb with. After overheating his pistol, he looked at the damage done to it and was content, after firing one more into the cracks to break it, forcing the elemental to fall off and activate its jets to keep from breaking its legs from the fall.

Mike trained his crosshairs on where he knew it would land, and fired his gauss rifle as soon as it touched the ground. It never had a chance, simply vaporized.

Michael looked at the other two mechwarriors who had already dealt with their Elemental and raised his mech's arms in a shrug like fashion.

Then, he turned and plodded for the mechbay, he steered it into the racks and shut it down. The whole mech 'relaxed' and Michael popped open the hatch, and stood out on the catwalks. The room was slightly damp, or he thought it could just be him, since he had just been in a mech.

* * *

Dominic came striding out in his cooling vest and stopped right in front of Mike to give him a tired smile.

"Good morning champ." He declared while tapping him under the chin. "Nice scar."

"Indeed…" Mike breathed. "Good morning to you too."

"How civil!" Dom exclaimed, "But alas, I have to go on my patrol. And I get to trudge around in… I doubt you will believe you have one in your hangars, a Dragon!"

"I believe they are 'letting' you use that so that they can have their mechwarriors use our design mechs and not Inner Sphere salvage taken by need." Mike replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Was that an insult to our technology? I am happy to get to use it, one reason may be that I was trained more extensively with it, and I miss it, but that's beside the point. I'll have fun." Dom replied as he swished his mug in his hand before chugging its contents and slipping on his nuero-helmet and walking over to his mech.

He turned and waved at Michael almost as if he were far away and added: "Wish me luck."

Mike halfheartedly waved back and walked away.

* * *

Michael quickly changed out of his cooling vest and put on his uniform before striding out of his room for what he considered his primary objective: breakfast.

The mess hall was filled with tired but aware crew, techs, and warriors. Mike felt right at home among them. He picked up a tray and dragged his feet over to the buffet and dished himself four sausages three large pancakes, two stripes of bacon, and a glass of orange juice, sourdough toast, and bowl of lettuce.

Mike eagerly set his tray down on the table and took a seat. His sausages were the first to go, and then the bacon, Protein dealt with.

The pancakes were another matter; he spent a minute enjoying looking at them while he spread the butter on each one and pouring thick maple syrup on them before stacking them and picking up his knife.

The pancakes were gone in record time, his small salad history, and empty glass… Well, now empty glass sat on his tray next to the bowl.

Mike took his tray and decided put it in the kitchen. On his way out, he was met by his Galaxy commander. Michael saluted of course and gave a brief 'hello'.

"By the way, good work out there on patrol… You dealt with the bloodnamed mechwarrior easily; perhaps you'll get a name for yourself soon… Sooner than you think." He stated with a gleam in his eyes, and a hidden chuckle in his voice.

Mike did not know what to say, besides 'thank you' and left. But he couldn't shake the feeling…

"Sooner than you think…"

"Sooner than you think…"

He decided to do something, so he went out to the comm. Relay to see how Dom was doing.

Dom was having his own personal skirmish, only, with his heavy gauss rifle, it was an already known bid who would win.

But Mike still couldn't shake the words out of his head: "Sooner than you think."

"What are they up to?" Mike thought to himself.

"Am I really going to fight for a bloodname? Did they sponsor me?"

* * *

A/N: More later for you. I am excited, I see that there are only 295 mechwarrior stories, and I have about three hundred and fifty hits on my first chapter… That means that not all the readers are actually mechwarrior authors! It means people who write about other things are still interested in us.

_Thank you everyone for your reviews._

_-Tremble Wolf_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter12

Strana Mechty (Land of Dreams)

3073 2:57 PM

Dominic marched his battered Dragon back into the hangar, on the comm, he was cheering like a spheroid, because he was one. He parked it and turned it off, the entire machine relaxed as the balance given it by Dom's brain was detached. He popped the seal of his cockpit and slid down the ladder to the floor where Michael stood waiting for him.

"Hello scar-face!" Dom declared.

"Hmm. Nice job out there today, but might I remind you that you are the one who stiched me?" Mike replied.

"It's an improvement. Did you hear? I fought off an entire star... of scout mechs." He sounded proud until he added the small part about the scouts.

"It is a big thing for you I suppose, after all, you killed five Clan pilots, an achievement even if they were all in Firemoths." Mike half joked at that, he actually enjoyed Dom's peculiar company.

"Don't insult me mister! Firemoths my eye!" Dom growled.

"Come, I bet you are craving some food." Mike only suggested it because he was hungry, and Dom guessed that right away.

"Acting civil? Or do you just feel guilty if you say that you're the hungry one? In either case, so am I." Dom's shoes clicked against the metal floor as he and Michael strode out of the mechbay and towards the mess hall.

As they were walking through the halls, and dodging the lesser members of Mike's class, they talked. And at one point, Dom made a suggestion.

"Mike, I think you might appreciate some of our Inner Sphere technology. Like our gauss rifles, long toms, and thunderbolt missiles."

"Long toms, as you call them, are dishonorable amongst the clans. Only the Jaguars have used artillery as far as I know, and they paid for it in the end." Mike recalled.

"And I helped them pay for it." Dom proudly stated.

"I know that, everyone does. But what I really want to know is, is there a possibility that the Inner Sphere would be willing to aid us?"

"The answer would be no, they were in the middle of fighting of the Word of Blake, I was done with the toaster lovers so I came out here." He replied.

Mike just sighed as they neared the mess hall, "Let us see what they have to eat so we can be refreshed before they send out strike teams."

"They would do that?"

"They might."

"Oh, um I was just wondering how hard it would be for me to fly a plane?" Dom inquired.

"Do not even try it Dom, you would kill yourself." Mike rolled his eyes.

"No I wouldn't, I've flown in a mech before."

"With what? Jump jets? That is not flying, I hardly know what to call it, but that is not it." Mike replied as he grabbed a tray.

He walked over to the table as Dominic rambled on, he didn't listen, he just got his food and went over to a table and sat down next to some elementals.

"Oh I see, sit next to the tough guys, but I'll join you." Dom cheerfully slapped his heaping tray in front of Mike and looked gleefully at the Elemental that glared at him from the side. "Want a sausage?" he offered.

The elemental looked at the plate and smiled. "I guess you need help to finish that little man."

"I'm not little, you're just big." Dom replied. Much to the confusion of the elemental.

"Just let me eat in peace." He complained.

"Dom..." Mike said condescendingly.

"What?" He replied innocently.

"I think you have had too much excitement for one day." he said as he sipped from his juice.

Dom lifted his mug of coffee and winked at him, "I might have but I think I'm fine."

"No, no stimulants for you." Michael teased as he grabbed Dom's coffee and handed it to the elemental that had been eating Dom's food.

"Hey! I didn't say you could eat all of it!" Dom complained pointedly.

"I may recall that you did not tell him that he could not eat your food." Mike replied as he patted the shoulder of the elemental, who glared at him as he did so. "I am not a teddy bear." He declared.

"Far be it for me to assume such a thing." Dom assured.

"Do not patronize me." The elemental growled as he grabbed Dom by the mouth and stuffed a large piece of bacon in it. Dom coughed and went away for some juice.

"Thank you for the peace." Mike said as he clicked glasses with the elemental. "He has been talking non-stop since he came back."

"Well then, I am not going to stay around for any more." The elemental replied, before sliding Dom's empty platter in front of the Star Captain.

Mike grunted and looked down at the platter, annoyed. "Dom, come here and pick this up."

"Oh man. I'll have to fill it up again, all I got was that bacon..." He didn't even have time to finish what he was saying, the warning lights turned on and everyone stood.

"Report to battlemechs we are under attack." The computer voice was cut off as another one came on.

This time, a real, and deep voice spoke. "Our perimeter is under attack. All forces get out there."

Dom chugged his coffee and grabbed several protein bars before running out the door and waving at mike.

Mike was impressed at his reaction speed, but not as much at his land speed as he soon caught up with him.

"Dom? Why are you going so slow?" He inquired.

"I was waiting for you." Dom replied before he sped up and slid across the polished floor into the mechbay. His Dragon had been repaired, most of the damage had been spread around so it was worse than it looked. Dom quickly scrambled up the ladder as Mike smoothly climbed into the cockpit of his Sommoner.

He sealed the cockpit and got more comfortable in his command chair before turning the computer on. It asked for his name and password, and he quickly complied.

His mech powered on and from a relaxed position, stood straight with authority.

"Michael Star, where are you?" He asked toggling his comm.

"Currently closing on your position." Asus called in from her Maddog.

"Right behind you." Dom stated from the cockpit of his Dragon.

"Who are you replacing this time?" Mike Complained, Dom fought well, but not in the tactics of the clans.

"Reginald, he cut himself by accident, and is seeing to it."

Mike groaned.

"Follow me." He said as he marched his Sommoner out of the mechbay to see a battle already in progress.

"I am missing two!" Mike said as he looked for his star.

Asus chimed over the comm. "They are on their way, a Timber Wolf, and a Cobra."

"Good, They will have to catch up, we will join the fight." Mike said almost gleefully as he toggled the zoom and sighted a Cougar cresting a hill. He pulled the trigger and his PPC arced out of his mech's cannon, the man-made lightening bolt struck the scout mech in the nose, causing it to lose balance and fall.

The Maddog behind him locked on and fired its LRMs, which flew across the expanse and impacted on the downed mech, melting off the precious little armor it had, in copious amounts.

Then from behind, an AC round from Dom finished it off and created a small crater in the hill.

"Hey look! Fireworks!" Dom cried.

Mike readied his medium lasers and ultra-auto cannons, and turned to face a Hellbringer that dared to face him. Green beams of energy from him and his lance tore his torso's armor to shreds, and his UAC ripped it up even more. But the kill was once more granted to Dom, who decimated it with his heavy gauss rifle. The magnetic slug passed through the weakened armor like paper and crushed the reactor.

Agitated at Dominic, Asus turned away and started to fire her missiles at a Novacat that was coming from behind some wreckage. And she soon had help from the Cobra that came running to catch up. Its missiles impacting seconds after the SRPPCs on each arm started to electrocute it.

The Timber Wolf that stomped to a halt next to Mike fired its missiles at helli-copters that were flying over the battlefield. And Dominic was fighting like a Dragon, he was facing off a Warhawk and had crippled one of its legs, and was firing at it in an attempt to rip it off. And when his Heavy Gauss was reloaded, the leg went flying and hit a Condor that was worrying them.

"Thank you Dom, nice kill." Mike complimented, secretly wishing he had a heavy gauss.

His radar went wild, a binary of heavy mechs were moving in, as well as a Star of Elementals, (Five points, or twenty five Elementals.) and one more star of medium tanks.

The Cobra had become notoriously efficient against Elementals, but they were in high demand and short supply, so there were only a couple in the battle.

Get that Cobra in a position to fire at the elementals!" Mike ordered, "Maddog, Timberwolf, ready missiles for the mechs. Dom, follow me, we will take care of mechs from close range."

"Wouldn't it be a lot more efficient if you had some LBX cannons?" Dom inquired.

"We do not have time to change my mech weapon load-out." Mike reminded. "But yes, it would."

"Look out! NovaCat!"

"I see it." Mike replied as he fired his PPC and hit the heavy in the shoulder, just in time to make the enemy's shot go wild.

Dom zoomed in and aimed at the mech's head, and fired the Heavy Gauss, effectively ripping the entire head clean off.

"That works." Mike offered.

"They are all closing in Sir!" Asus warned.

"I noticed!" Mike replied when he was hit by several large lasers in the back, turning that portion of armor into slag.

Dom leveled his guns and fired an alpha-strike at the attacker, giving Mike time to turn and fire. The offender was a hulking Cauldron-born, which missed him with its LBX guns.

Mike locked on with his missiles and launched. The round missile barrel near his cockpit flared as fifteen LRMs flew forth in a rain of death on the Cauldron-born.

More missiles from his Starmates crushed in the top of the mech and caused it to fall to the ground, giving Michael the chance to finish it off with his lasers and UACs. The resulting explosion shook him in his seat, but he didn't care, he just turned and fired his PPC and his UAC, both impacted on an irritating Timber wolf that was wreaking havoc on the number of friendly vehicles in the area.

The nose on the mech was scarred and cracked and glowing red when the brief smoke cleared. And turned towards Mike looking like a ravenous dog. Dom trudged forward and destroyed the nose of the mech with his Gauss Rifle, all collapsed inward like cooling custard.

And by this time, three elementals were running across the battle field, and four omnimechs. The Elementals were crushed by the sheer weight of the SRPPCs that Mike's starmate fired, and the leading mech, a Gargoyle was was busy harassing Asus.

"Bring down the Gargoyle!" Mike ordered, and almost immediately his entire Star started firing all their weapons at it, Dom was the only one with a red laser. While the other, friendly stars were taking down the other mechs systematically. The Gargoyle sank to its knees and fired itslasers one more time before ejecting its pilot and exploding in brilliant fire.

"Sir? Can I go and repair?" Asus asked.

Dom piped in at once. "Can I eat now?"

"Yes, everyone, go. We are not on patrol." Mike replied with a sigh as he turned his mech back towards the hangar.

He trudged his mech into the building and backed it into its slot and powered down, the techs swarmed it immediately. Mike opened the cockpit and stretched out of his seat. And thought to himself, "When is this over? And am I ever going to fight for a bloodname?"

Dom had already left, and Mike wandered to his room to sleep.

* * *

Tremble Wolf- Sorry guys, hat it took so long, but I was doing school and writing Specter. I'll keep writing and reading as I can, I don't even check my e-mail, so, sorry everyone.

I hope you liked this chapter.


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